Troubled Times

 

Troubled Times

1963 was a tumultuous year. Shaken by the Cuban Missile Crisis, Americans realized that they were not as safe as they thought they were. World governments began negotiations to ban the testing of nuclear weapons. A “hotline” was connected between Washington and Moscow. 

The nation was also rocked by the civil rights movement. In January, George Wallace declared “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.” In June he stood in the “schoolhouse” door to protest integration. In April, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders of the Civil Rights movement were jailed in Birmingham for conducting a peaceful demonstration. On June 11^th, President Kennedy made a historic Civil Rights speech, promising equal rights for all Americans. The following day, African-American activist Medgar Evers was murdered in Mississippi.  

In April, the U.S. nuclear submarine, the Thresher, imploded -- killing all 129 men on board. In May, “Bull” Connor, Public Safety Commissioner in Birmingham, AL, set fire hoses and police dogs on anti-segregation marchers, many of whom were college students and children. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that Bible reading in schools was unconstitutional. In August, a quarter of a million people gathered on the Washington Mall to show support for the civil rights movement. In September, the 16^th Street Baptist Church was bombed before Sunday services. Four little girls were killed. We all remember what happened in Dallas in November. 

1963 was a very hard year.

Our nation survived 1963. Crises weaken or strengthen us. When Martin Luther King. Jr. was jailed, his leadership in the movement was criticized. He responded with his famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail” in which he wrote: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly…. 

President Kennedy called for world peace: What kind of peace do I mean and what kind of a peace do we seek? …the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, and the kind that enables men and nations to grow, and to hope, and build a better life for their children—not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women, not merely peace in our time but peace in all time. Addressing the issue of civil rights, he stated that, this Nation... will not be fully free until all its citizens are free... Now the time has come for this Nation to fulfill its promise.

Are we yet living in the world these leaders described? Maybe not; but we have not given up. We realize that we must be part of that “network of mutuality” which continues to work for “peace in all time.” We know that we “will not be fully free” until all are free. What people are not yet free? Are we still working for peace for all time? Do we yet understand that we are “tied in a single garment of destiny”? Do we now agree that what affects one of us, affects us all? 

The crises of 1963 did not cripple us. We were knocked down, but we picked ourselves up and went on. As we confront the crises of today, let us not forget the lessons of 1963. Let us continue to work so that this nation can “fulfill its promise” to the world.