Georgetown’s MLK: “Let Freedom Ring! Initiative” takes on added significance this year, especially in light of last week’s insurrectionist violence at the U.S. Capitol. Faculty are annually encouraged to “Teach the Speech,” taking a selected speech from Dr. King and incorporating it into courses and other learning activities at the university.
The invitation from the Center for Social Justice and other university offices extends beyond faculty to include students, staff, and community partners. More than observing the MLK Jr. holiday as a day off from work, the tradition of teaching the speech reminds us that the struggle for racial and economic justice, which animated Dr. King’s life, continues today and requires our individual and collective action. That struggle, which is also reflected in several of our Spirit of Georgetown values, like a Faith that Does Justice, invites the Georgetown community to commit more deeply to the legacy of Dr. King.
The 1965 speech “Our God is Marching On” is a classic example of Dr. King’s rhetorical ability to name both reasons for despair and for hope. On the side of despair, Dr. King points to the way Black communities encounter systemic inequality in jobs, housing, education, and economic opportunities. He also notes the way that cynical political and economic interests sought to purposefully divide Blacks and whites in order to advance their bottom lines. The point for Dr. King, then and now, is that the campaigns for racial and economic justice must be intertwined. But Dr. King does not rest in the desolation of these realities. Instead, he points to a transcendent hope in the struggle: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” This is not a superficial, naïve hope, however, but one that is grounded in truth and non-violence.
The late Congressman John Lewis, in his 1963 speech for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, echoes many of the points that Dr. King will make in 1965. However, given the wishes of Dr. King and other senior leaders who advised that he tone down his rhetoric in light of political sensitivities, we can see how Congressman Lewis amended his prepared remarks. The side-by-side comparison of these speeches helps us appreciate some ongoing tensions in social justice movements.
A concern that Lewis’s prepared remarks might alienate the presidential administration of John Kennedy led to language that affirmed the ways that Kennedy’s federal efforts supported the cause of civil rights: “It is true that we support the administration’s Civil Rights Bill. We support it with great reservation, however.” Lewis goes on to point out the many ways that legislation alone, the courts alone, cannot provide jobs and cannot provide safety against violence. Seeing these speeches in comparison helps us reflect on the discernment necessary in the movements for racial and economic justice. What language to use? How to frame the arguments? Who to address?
Taken together, this year’s speeches by Dr. King and Congressman John Lewis have the capacity to provoke some necessary reflection in our SCS learning spaces. No discipline or industry is immune from serious reflection and analysis about how to contribute to the movements for racial and economic justice. The speeches also affirm our ongoing commitment at Georgetown to attend to the whole person in our teaching and learning. For both King and Lewis, the interior life—a life devoted to reverence and worship—was always integrated with their lives of public action. This is a good reminder that an education is not just about the mind, but also the soul, the heart, and the hands. May we find inspiration this year in the wisdom of Dr. King and Congressman Lewis as we continually discern our actions for justice.