The call goes out
from city, town and village, urban and rural, “who has heard our voice,
who has heard our
cry”
The current political environment emerges as the voice of the people has been muffled by and
for particular privileged interests. We should
not wonder why the movements of Black Lives Matter, the Tea Party, Senator
Bernie Sanders, and Donald J. Trump just to name a few of the prominent movements
have gained social and political traction.
These movements should be considered a poignant statement regarding the
care and concern of the body politic and the desires denied in favor of the privileged
corporate class. There is a longing
of the people to be heard, to be seen to be respected and received as viable
agents of political and economic import.
This seems, more than at any other time in political American life to be
the point, “Have you heard my cry, do you reflect my perspective or at least my
point of view, do you hear my voice?” I write as a liberal and a progressive on
this matter. As I write this post I am mindful of the words
of the U.S. Constitution, one of the most liberal pieces of political rhetorics
of the 18th century.
We
the People of the United States, in Order to
form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,
provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the
Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish
this Constitution for the United States of America.
Rhetorics is a central part of political acumen which
becomes the tool by which to speak to the issues of the body politic. Rhetorics must be sustaining, empowering
and sensitive to the profound needs and concerns of all people. American rhetorics as embodied in the U.S.
Constitution must embody a hopeful pragmatic attitude of divine import for a
diverse and teaming population of people.
We
the People must once again believe that our voice is heard
and that it has intrinsic value within the life of the American political
scheme.
I believe it important to grasp the gravity of the intrinsic
value of the voice of the people. This
intrinsic value must be seen as one of divine import. Note:
While I do believe in separation of Church and State due to the many
complications and complexities that would ensue if there were no separation I
do acknowledge that each person is the incarnation of the divine, in this there
is no waiver. In this sense the voice
that is heard is a voice of the divine. That
said, the voice of the person is the voice of the divine and a such the voice of
the people must be considered an amalgamation of divine import.
Historically and I would say presently the rhetorics
of American politics is tied to the narrative of white supremacy, privilege and
empire, and I might add somewhat of a care taker attitude. This is still the ground of the Euro-American
political rhetorical project. If we can
move this rhetorics beyond the means and attitude of white supremacy, empire, their
cousin capitalism then the systemic, systematic and programmatic issues that
plague places like Flint Michigan, Ferguson, Mo., the Appalachia region and the
U.S. at large might be adequately addressed.
Of course this is a difficult and challenging proposition. Yet this is what is necessary to address the
problems endemic to America in the 21st century. American political rhetoric must mature so as
to enable the U.S. to attain an even greater imagination grounded in justice
and equality for all people. American
politics must make as its ground and purpose the empowerment of the powerless,
to attain a broader more justice oriented imagination of what could be.
What I am seeking here is a new consciousness, one
based on equality and empowerment for all framed in profound compassion. This
should, no, it must be the foundational ethic which undergirds the American
rhetorical project. The implications of
this statement are nothing less than the emergence of a new discourse that
enables and empowers those of critical difference formally a voice denied towards
a voice heard and received by all. This
is the clarion call for a democracy empowered of divine intent for the transforming
hope of humanity, this is the call for the Citizen Activist.
The
Citizen Activist, A Sacred Calling
Through
the rhetorics of compassion the Citizen Activist presents a poignant message of
hope as they address “Who Has Heard My Cry” through the building of communities
of solidarity, coalitions, and alliances.
The Citizen Activist is a person who, after
significant reflection, meditation and conversation is able to look up from
their personal suffering so that they might receive and embrace the suffering
experienced by themselves and those around them, this as a matter of seeking justice. This must be the mission of those in poverty,
the disenfranchised and those who suffer because of race, sexism and bigotries.
Their suffering, as a matter of faith,
must be received as a denial of self-deception and a poignant call for
solidarity, this solidarity a means to alleviate the suffering for all. To deny the reality of our suffering is to
deny certain hope in favor of profound ignorance. That said, there is a need for the Citizen
Activist to gain some understanding of suffering, firsts as a term of
definition and then as a reality of nonviolent protest.
Suffering, the
state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship, compels a response, this response received as
hope is a mystical release of passion in the life and purpose of the Citizen
Activist. We see this in the life of Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he writes of
his “Suffering and Faith” on 27 April 1960 in Chicago, Ill.
Some
of my personal sufferings over the last few years have also served to shape my
thinking. I always hesitate to mention these experiences for fear of conveying
the wrong impression. A person who constantly calls attention to his trials and
sufferings is in danger of developing a martyr complex and of making others
feel that he is consciously seeking sympathy. It is possible for one to be
self-centered in his self-denial and self-righteous in his self-sacrifice. So I
am always reluctant to refer to my personal sacrifices. But I feel somewhat
justified in mentioning them in this article because of the influence they have
had in shaping my thinking.
Due
to my involvement in the struggle for the freedom of my people, I have known
very few quiet days in the last few years. I have been arrested five times and
1960 put in Alabama jails. My home has been bombed twice. A day seldom passes
that my family and I are not the recipients of threats of death. I have been
the victim of a near fatal stabbing. So in a real sense I have been battered by
the storms of persecution. I must admit that at times I have felt that I could
no longer bear such a heavy burden, and have been tempted to retreat to a more quiet
and serene life. But every time such a temptation appeared, something came to
strengthen and sustain my determination. I have learned now that the Master’s burden
is light precisely when we take his yoke upon us.
My
personal trials have also taught me the value of unmerited suffering. As my
sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways that I could
respond to my situation: either to react with bitterness or seek to transform
the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.
Recognizing the necessity for suffering I have tried to make of it a virtue. If
only to save myself from bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal
ordeals as an opportunity to transform myself and heal the people involved in
the tragic situation which now obtains. I have lived these last few years with
the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive.
There
are some who still find the cross a stumbling block, and others consider it
foolishness, but I am more convinced than ever before that it is the power of
God unto social and individual salvation. So like the Apostle Paul I can now
humbly yet proudly say, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”4 The suffering and agonizing moments
through which I have passed over the last few years have also drawn me closer
to God. More than ever before I am convinced of the reality of a personal God.[1]
It is also an authentic conversation, and I believe
Dr. King understood this, that the earth and her humanity are composed of suffering
and hope, this an evolving discourse on compassion. Indeed,
the Citizen Activist longs to balance these realities of human existence. In this light the Citizen Activist seeks to build alliances, coalitions and
partnerships, as a means of community rooted in a divine call for care and
concern with compassion as their core understanding of life. Understanding this, the rhetorics of the Citizen
Activist must be based on compassion, mercy and grace simply as a shared
narrative of the human condition. This
is important since in the new emerging world, particularly with the rise of
social media, a shared narrative must be more explicit within the body
politic.
The Citizen Activist, encountering the narrow sectarian, parochial sensibilities
aligned with structures of power, domination and avarice must be steadfast and
nonviolent in the face of these forces that seek to maintain certain disparity
between peoples, and classes of the body politic.
In the manner of Jesus Christ, the Buddha and Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi
the Citizen Activist receives and embraces what is at stake. In light of what is at stake they go the
distance. Yes, beloved they do go the
distance in these affairs of Calling yet they do so among and with many others
of divine calling. And, in the manner of
the Buddha they seek to balance, to do the least harm knowing that power, while
a causality of passion, is not the goal of the Citizen Activist but love for all.
accessed January 23, 2016
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