{"id":985,"date":"2010-03-07T03:11:22","date_gmt":"2010-03-07T03:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/voteforjoe.com\/wheresjoe\/?p=423"},"modified":"2010-03-07T03:11:22","modified_gmt":"2010-03-07T03:11:22","slug":"not-everyone-is-free-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/?p=985","title":{"rendered":"not everyone is free yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

In remembrance of the anniversary of Bloody Sunday 1965,<\/em> which was honored today in Selma, Alabama, my son Jonathan and I went to the King Center in Atlanta. \u00a0 A tribute to the life of Martin Luther King Jr., the Center is highly interactive, with a series of montages and a set of videos about King and the Civil Rights Movement. \u00a0 In one video it was explained that in the South “separate but equal was a myth.” \u00a0 What’s more, segregation sent a strong psychological message that Black people were inferior to Whites and should be kept separate. \u00a0 There were “colored” restrooms, “colored” drinking fountains, “colored” motels, “colored” diners… \u00a0 And even after segregation ended (at least some of it), there was still a tremendous financial disparity between many Blacks and Whites. \u00a0 King Jr. recognized this and stridently took on poverty, calling for a “radical redistribution of wealth.” \u00a0 Yet that chasm still exists today and is poignantly displayed on the walls of the Open Door Community<\/em> \u00a0 in urban Atlanta, where we are staying for the next few days. \u00a0 The Open Door<\/em> is a Catholic Worker House of Hospitality that attends to the homeless and others on the margins here. \u00a0 On the wall are some 70 random photographs of various homeless people, and of other urban poor in the area. \u00a0 Some 90% of the pictures are Black people. \u00a0 We still, indeed, have segregation in our cities, as we still have slavery. \u00a0 That is, many of these people have been caught in trans-generational poverty loops and are ‘slaves’ to the streets. \u00a0 President John F. Kennedy, in addressing segregation, once said that we can’t have true freedom in this country until “…everyone is free.” \u00a0 Not everyone is free, even yet. \u00a0 Not by a long shot… \u00a0 Dr. King grew up going to Ebeneezer Church in Atlanta, a Black Baptist Church. \u00a0 His father was a preacher. \u00a0 I interviewed another Black preacher at the Open Door Community today. \u00a0 Rev. Ron Lister and his wife Ann are on staff at the Open Door. \u00a0 Ann is also working on a degree in theology at nearby Emory University. \u00a0 When she graduates, the Listers are planning to open the Center for World Spirituality<\/em>. \u00a0 Rev. Ron told me this would be an “ecumenical inter-faith collaboration,” with a commitment to enhancing one’s faith and social justice outreach. \u00a0 One component will be in-depth studies of various world religions in order to break down stereo-types, look for common denominators, etc. \u00a0 As an example, Rev. Ron said that in the Muslim faith the work “jihad” has been co-opted by extremists to justify terrorism and war. \u00a0 Rev. Lister said, based on his studies, that the word “jihad” is really meant to connote the ‘war’ between the “spirit and the flesh.” \u00a0 The same consistent theme, for instance, that is expressed in Christianity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In remembrance of the anniversary of Bloody Sunday 1965, which was honored today in Selma, Alabama, my son Jonathan and I went to the King Center in Atlanta. \u00a0 A tribute to the life of Martin Luther King Jr., the …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}