wfn.org | Bishop writes annual letter to Martin Luther King Jr.

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Nov. 21, 2001 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-31-71B{550}

NOTE:  A photo of Bishop White is available for use with this story at
http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html.

By United Methodist News Service

Each year, United Methodist Bishop Woodie W. White writes a letter to his
friend and colleague, the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in advance of
King's Jan. 15 birthday. White, 66, was the first staff executive for the
denomination's Commission on Religion and Race, where he served from 1969 to
1984. He was elected a bishop in 1984 and led the church's Illinois Area for
eight years. He was appointed to the Indiana Area in 1992. This year's
letter from White to the civil rights leader follows:

Dear Martin,

What a year 2001! No event since your death has had so deep an impact on me
as that, which occurred on Sept. 11. I write this letter with a huge hole in
my heart.

Martin, on that day an unprecedented terrorist attack took place on the
Pentagon, the World Trade Center in New York City, and an apparent aborted
attack on Washington when a plane crashed in Pennsylvania. The result, more
than 5,000 people were killed.

While viewing a morning news show, I witnessed one of the airplanes crash
into a tower of the World Trade Center. Nothing prepared me for such a
sight. 

I continue to grieve for all the families, friends and loved ones of those
lost, including hundreds of police and firefighters who were killed in an
early rescue effort.

Sadly, thousands of bodies may never be recovered, and remain in the rubble
of the World Trade Center. 

The horror of it all, and subsequent United States response to the attack
escalated the suffering.

God must weep!

This tragedy is a dramatic reminder of the depth of hate and ill will in the
world, and in the minds and hearts of so many.

Martin, I still remember the powerful illustration in your book, Where Do We
Go From Here? You recalled the plot of an intended novel found among the
papers of a deceased author. The plot: "A widely separated family inherits a
house in which they have to live together."

Martin, in many ways and places the human family remains separated.
Separated by centuries of hatred and hostility, prejudice and bigotry, greed
and exploitation. The unyielding reality is we share a common "house," the
globe, a nation, state, city or community. We must and will live together. 

In the United States, we continue to be challenged by the question of how a
diverse and separated family will live together. Race and, increasingly,
class are the barriers separating the "family." 

The institutional barriers of race separation continue to fall. In many ways
we witness achievements in race not even imagined three decades ago. But,
the heart barriers remain. Sadly, they appear in each succeeding generation.
New racists, if you will, emerge. Thus, progress and achievement are tainted
by some measure of retrogression. 

Martin, while the anniversary of your birth is observed all across the
nation -- that in itself a remarkable achievement to celebrate -- we will be
reminded of ways in which we are a better America. Yet sadly, there will be
ample evidence in community, and even in the Church, that "the dream" is yet
to be fully realized.

Perhaps no words are more appropriate than yours to conclude this letter:

"In spite of the tension and uncertainties of this period, something
profoundly meaningful is taking place. Old systems of exploitation and
oppression are passing away; new systems of justice and equality are being
born. In a real sense this is a great time to be alive. Therefore, I am not
yet discouraged about the future. Granted that the easygoing optimism of
yesterday is impossible. Granted that we face a world crisis that leaves us
standing so often amid the surging murmur of life's restless sea. But every
crisis has both its dangers and opportunities. It can spell either salvation
or doom. In a dark, confused world, the Kingdom of God may yet reign in the
hearts of men."

Martin, I am confident that we shall overcome, because indeed, we are
overcoming!

Happy Birthday!

Woodie
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United Methodist News Service
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