A Homily Delivered by Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister
at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, OK
on Martin Luther King Festival Sunday,
January 20, 2008
I’ll never
forget when I was 14 years old, watching basketball star Michael Jordan playing
golf. I grew up outside of Chicago, and in the
summers I caddied at a local country club.
Even though it was the mid-80s, it was still considered normal that no
blacks or Jews were allowed to be members of the club. But occasionally, on a weekday, when there
weren’t too many people on the course, Michael Jordan would show up and he’d be
allowed to play a round of golf with a few club members. Keep in mind, Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball
player that ever lived, was in his prime in the 1980s. But despite his wealth, his education, his
fame, and his love of golf, he could not have joined that country club, or any
number of country clubs in the Chicago
area.
I was
reminded of this story because yesterday was the anniversary of the official desegregation
of the PGA, which happened January 19, 1961.
Even so, for the next two decades, the best black golfers in the world often
had to change their clothes in the parking lot at tournaments where they were
not permitted into the locker room. It
wasn’t until 1990, under the pressure of advertisers like American Airlines and
IBM, that the PGA made a rule that they would not hold a tournament in any club
where there were no black members.
The
following year many elite country clubs across the country gave honorary
memberships to a well known black member of their community in order to
preserve their right to host a PGA tournament.
As a matter of fact, it was in 1991, that Southern Hills Country Club here
in Tulsa gave
an honorary membership to author Clifton Taulbert so that the club could accept
the invitation to host the 1994 PGA Championship. Often when we talk about civil rights, people
think in terms of 40 or 50 years ago. But
racism continues to plague many aspects of American life, long after Martin
Luther King’s dream.
A few months ago, I preached a sermon, you might recall, titled “Hidden
America.” In the sermon I challenged the
conventional wisdom I was hearing in Tulsa,
about why the river tax vote failed 9 to 1 in North Tulsa where much of Tulsa’s black community
resides. I never could have imagined the
response that sermon would get outside of this church. People from many walks of life in Tulsa have told me they
read that sermon. Reverend Ray Owens, a
Baptist minister here in Tulsa,
assigned the sermon to his entire class at Philips Theological Seminary. The Editors of Oklahoma Today magazine read
it and afterward approached me about writing a piece for their magazine on the
elements of effective preaching. People
started asking me what I was going to do next to broaden the conversation on
race in Tulsa.
I
approached some of my older colleagues, who have been doing this kind of work
in Tulsa for
many decades, and I found that many of them were discouraged about the prospects
of creating racial harmony in this city.
From white leaders, I heard that they had put on many events and forums over
the past couple of decades and that by and large black leaders didn’t attend (which
is true). From black leaders, I heard
that they were tired of attending endless meetings and forums that made the
participants feel good for ‘doing something’, but that led to no real significant
changes.
Then, I had
the good sense to ask church member Nancy McDonald
what she thought.
She said, “I don’t think you can
start with the older generation of leaders in Tulsa.
They may want change, but they’re burned out by too many disappointing
experiences.” She said, “Why don’t you
start with the people who were among the first youth in Tulsa to graduate from Tulsa Public Schools
after legal desegregation?” Soon, I
remembered that there is a second part to Martin Luther King’s dream. It began
with white children and black children holding hands and playing on the playground
together. But part two of that dream is those
children on the playground growing up and becoming leaders together, and changing
the face of the cities they live in and this nation.
Well, Nancy helped me realize
that that historic moment has arrived. Those
children who learned to play together on the playgrounds of Tulsa Public Schools
in the early 70s are now doctors, lawyers, politicians, social service
providers, firefighters, educators, business people and ministers. Many are parents who now have school age
children of their own. The time has come
for those young people to lead the way to a new and different kind of Tulsa. These young leaders represent a new
generation of North Americans. They had
a completely different upbringing regarding what they’ve been taught about race
and the value of every person.
So, in December,
with the help of Nancy McDonald,
Herb Beattie and Julius Pigues, I called together 40 Tulsa leaders (both black and white), most of
whom graduated together from Booker T. Washington High School. It was amazing! Despite the racial and ethnic diversity in
the room, and despite the controversial issues we discussed, there was a rare ease
to the conversation. There was a lot of
humor and affection in the discussion, and there was a clear drive to step up
to create positive change in Tulsa.
The main areas discussed were education,
economic development and race relations.
What was most
inspiring, however, was that the conversation was not the usual “us and them” conversation. These leaders all talked in terms of WE. They talked about our city, our schools, our future. They were telling what could be called “the
WE story.” So much of human history is
the story of conflict between us and them.
Between Protestants and Catholics, Muslims and Jews, north and south. But these people were really thinking in
terms of WE.
The group
came up with a mission: “To work for equity and excellence in the quality of
life of all Tulsans.” The group chose
the name wE – because we’re focused
on telling “the We Story” for a unified Tulsa. The name wE is spelled with a small w and a
large E, because the emphasis is on the E for equity, excellence, education,
economic development.
Our first public
event will be a forum on January 28th for the candidates running for
the Tulsa Public School Board – here at All Souls at 7pm. Let’s be honest, Tulsa Public Schools is
failing many of our children, especially in the poorer parts of the city. And yet with a school board election next
month, there were no public forums set up for parents and other citizens to ask
questions of the candidates. In the past
there used to at least be candidate forums for these important positions. It’s time for people from all parts of Tulsa stand together again
and hold our public officials accountable for failing schools.
I believe
this new multi-racial group of leaders has enormous moral authority. They love Tulsa.
They are respected in their own right professionally in this city. They are the product of the best of Tulsa
Public Education. As these leaders
develop a positive message to improve and unite this city, I believe their
brand of optimism coupled with activism and accountability will become
contagious. It’s time for a common voice
in this city that transcends race and social class.
A historic
moment has arrived, when the second part of Dr. King’s dream is taking
hold.
The children who started playing
together on the playgrounds of this city in the early 70s are now coming
together to tell a new story – a story that starts with WE rather than “us and them.” I believe with all my heart and soul that
humanity is meant to be united as one family.
Especially now, in the aftermath of centuries of division and prejudice. Especially now, when there still exists a
right side and a wrong side of the tracks. Especially now, when nooses are still hung in
the halls of elite universities and at workplaces around our nation as signs of
intimidation.
Let
us pray for those who still fill their pockets with stones. For those whose fists are still clenched. Let us pray for those who remain stuck in narrow-mindedness
and prejudice. Let us pray for those who
will always divide the world into us and them and who will never say “we” and
mean the whole human race.
I pray
that in our efforts to find greater unity, you and I will continually seek to cleanse
ourselves of the pride and prejudices that we may still harbor, knowingly or unknowingly. For we have all been raised in a culture dominated
by ideas of white supremacy. And we too
cannot escape completely the acids of our culture which eat away at human souls.
Let us hope
and act for that day when everyone will see that when we belittle a Jew,
a Muslim, a Hindu, a black man or
brown women, or white person or an Asian brother or a Native American sister, or
any person, that we demean and desecrate ourselves and all of humanity. Let us deputize each other today as agents of
unity and love.
Because we
have power. We have a power that is older
than Abraham. We have a power that is
exemplified in Jesus. We have a power
that was expressed in the life of Martin Luther King Jr. It is a power that cannot be found in bullets,
or spray cans, or intimidation. It’s not
to be found by dividing up into ‘your people’ and ‘my people,’ ‘your kind’ and ‘my
kind.’ It’s mightier than black power;
it’s mightier than white power. It is
the power of “we” – the power of seeing “we” instead of “us and them.”
I pray
today that each time we use the word “we” that we include one more person. I pray that our city and our nation finds the
“we” story that so desperately wants to be conceived out of the union of us and
them. The “we” that is the culmination
of all that is sacred and worthy. The
“we” that won’t let any member of the human family go to bed hungry or abused
or alone. That won’t let grown men and
women change in parking lots or be excluded from memberships. The “we” that not only sees black boys and
white girls and children of all colors of the rainbow playing together on the
playground, but that sees black men and white women and adults of all colors
working together to gain political ground.
The “we” that is a true brotherhood and sisterhood among the one human
race, ennobled by God’s divine embrace. God
bless us and keep us moving forward.
Amen.