I take the title of this column from the song by U2, “Pride (In the Name of Love).” About Martin Luther King, Jr., he sings: “In the name of love. One more in the name of love.” One more crying; one more speaking out; one more reaching out; one more marching; one more dying.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was not the first to insist on justice, equity, and compassionate treatment for all human beings. He has not been the last. Nor has he been the first to die for resisting those who hate, who condemn, who use their power and money to enslave and imprison others. Unfortunately, he has not been the last.
At one point, it seemed all my heroes died by assassination: Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohandas Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, even Jesus. One day, someone suggested I include Sojourner Truth in that list. Truth, a black woman in the 1800s, escaped to freedom in New York and eventually gave speeches against slavery. She also spoke out for women’s rights and prison reform. Justice, equity, and love were important to her, too, and she would not be silent about the cruelty and the wrongs in the world. Yet in 1883, at the age of 86, she died from natural causes. She is another of my heroes, as are two who are still alive: Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.
Originally, I was going to say more about non-violent resistance. However, someone hacked both my personal website and the URC website (see the article below), so I’ve been doing other things than writing columns this week. And the websites are offline until I can rebuild them. In the meantime, I leave you with this question: Who are your heroes?
In faith and fondness,
Barbara
January 2013
