Get back the original vision

Yes, I enjoyed all the sights and sounds of the 30th anniversary of the Civil Rights March on Washington free from the sweltering heat of D.C. last weekend in my mildly warm unairconditioned (due to financial impairment) apartment.

There were moments of triumph, as when Rosa Parks, one of the many civil rights heroes of the turbulent ‘60s, took the podium. There were also moments of confusion when speakers seemed to toss every conceivable liberal cause into the works, mucking up the wheels of the one of the most powerful locomotives in American politics.

There was a lack of focus and vast moral canyons separating and diluting the dream that Martin Luther King, Jr. began to put into reality in his lifetime.

The civil rights battle of the ’60s was largely fought by African-American Christian leaders. The moral framework was solid, as solid as a righteous and just cause could be.

Why did Dr. King and his followers “overcome” major obstacles of voting rights and segregation? Because they were unequivocally and absolutely right.

It wasn’t merely a political cause they were talking about. These folks understood that the God of the Bible demands justice. Unfortunately, a large segment of white Christian America had yet to see the light, much to the chagrin of King.

Today issues of race seem more appropriately solved on a more domestic and personal level as opposed to the legislative tactics of the ‘60s. They need to be solved in our neighborhoods, churches, campuses and even dormitories, but as we all know, they are not being solved. Why?

As God, Truth and Justice are given minor roles by the the greater portion of American society, so the moral relativism of this era pervades into the once mighty moral forces of the civil rights movement, leaving a crippling effect.

Luckily, African-American civil rights leadership is still largely led by men and women with firm conviction of the ideals of Truth and Righteousness to a much greater extent than the rest of society. I would hate to see that end.

I’m certain that many of the African-American religious leaders were deeply saddened to see the homosexual agenda and abortion rights whisked under the umbrella of Dr. King and the movement they once commandeered.

I met one of the lesser known African-American religious leaders of the early and present civil rights movements this summer. John Perkins devoted his life not only to civil rights as he battled the racist courts of Mississippi, he has pledged a lifelong effort to bring the issues to much deeper levels than the political.

Perkin’s life is devoted to the teachings of Christ and the justice of the Bible. Perkins knows, as King knew, that God requires much more than “separate but equal.” He requires nothing less than reconciliation, forgiveness and love from all parties.

Perkins, son of a Mississippi sharecropper, shares in his autobiography Let Justice Roll Down that he was a victim of white economic racism. He watched his brother die after being shot by the town sheriff for trying to protect his head while being beaten. Despite being nearly beaten to death himself by police, Perkins forgave. He knew it was the only option for those who followed Christ.

Forgiveness is not a double standard as Christian truck driver Reginald Denny well knew. He forgave his attackers immediately after coming out of a coma.

Liberal political solutions to the question of race—affirmative action and welfare—are by and large a tremendous flop. Racism is a sickness of the soul, government has already done more than it should have.

As long as the civil rights agenda is based on things above: righteousness and the truth of God’s laws it will continue to thrive not by human effort, but by His own will.

Unless we look for solution to racial reconciliation within according to the teachings of Christian forgiveness and brotherly love, the pangs of Watts, Detroit, Mississippi, L.A. and NIU will merely be tremors before the earthquake.