My frustration with MLK Day

I’m not reposting any Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on social media for MLK Day this year.

(Although, I really do want to post that part of the Letter from a Birmingham Jail where Dr. King calls out white Christians, aka the whole thing, and says the church risks losing its authenticity, which if that wasn’t a prophetic statement for the 20th century, then it sure was one for after November 2016…)

But I’m not. Because yet another white girl posting a neat quote to show that I’m not racist does nothing to address the systemic racism in our nation and in the American church from which I benefit and which I have done nothing to dismantle.

Seeing so many MLK quotes in my news feed at this moment in our country’s history is a jarring juxtaposition. The irony (is it irony or something else?) that the impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump is beginning the day after Martin Luther King Day is almost too much. The fact that Sen. Cory Booker had to drop out of the Democratic primary race the week before because of lack of funds also feels like something telling. That my alma mater, a Christian university in Ohio, is marking MLK Day for the first time with an off day, yet inviting an editor from a far-right news publication to speak on campus the next day also seems indicative of deep problems.

Deep problems that skin-deep solutions like taking a holiday or posting a quote on facebook do nothing to address.

And worse, doing something shallow risks making me feel like I’ve done something and lets me be content with no real action.

I’ve been on a journey the past five years of learning to recognize institutionalized racism, something I’d been shielded from by my privileged, white, Christian upbringing. But despite learning what it is and what it does, I’ve done nothing about it.

I’m still part of the problem.

When I was a kid, I’d wished I lived in ‘more interesting times’ so I could do something impressive to stand for my beliefs. Well, self, these are definitely interesting, telling times. What will you do with them?

Part of me wants to repost those quotes because it would be a small but concrete act to say that Dr. King’s words matter. That Black Lives Matter. That dismantling racist systems like mass incarceration, wealth inequality, and environmental injustice in our country matters. That decolonizing our theology matters. That true lament and repentance for the complicity of the American church with racism matter. That both reparations and reconciliation matter.

And another part of me realizes that reposting isn’t enough. That lip service isn’t enough. That listening to gospel music, cheering for Black Panther, or eulogizing Dr. King isn’t enough. That those things won’t fix the effects of housing discrimination, end mass incarceration, reunite families at the border, or repay what is owed to those who were stolen from. That nothing short of actively dismantling racism is enough.

And I have no idea where my contribution to anti-racism begins. But I’m pretty sure it’s not by pretending one day a year on social media that I’m already doing anything about it.

---

---