“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” ~ St. Paul, 2 Timothy 4:7 (ASV)
Recently, it was an honor to meet this great Civil Rights icon. From the moment it was announced that Rep Lewis was to be the keynote speaker at the 2014 Hall of Fame Dinner honoring Rep Ed Pastor who is retiring from congress, I began looking forward to meeting John Lewis, my civil rights hero and former congressman.
The irony is, for a split second, it seems, I was deliberately excluded from Rep Lewis’ reception by my old nemesis, the so-called devil. As the old-timers would say: Child, that ain’t nothing but the devil. Hence, this classic line from television comic Flip Wilson (c. 1970s): “The devil made me do it.” Though I was genuinely hurt, as I thought this person was a friend, of sorts, being a veteran Spiritual Warrior myself, I would not be deterred. Thankfully, my campaign colleague, who had been sent an invitation, was right behind me. Thus, the wily ego steps aside claiming it was kidding, which hardly felt that funny to me!
Embraced by History
Nonetheless, I gladly enter the room without further incident, blindly walking past free glasses of sparkling champagne, scrumptious deserts, and impressive VIP’s. My only purpose was to meet Rep Lewis in appreciation of his great service to civil rights. See, I also had a story to tell John Lewis and prayed that I would not cry in the process. Naturally, upon meeting him I felt like crying and said so. He embraces me and I immediately feel at ease.
With tears of reverence under control, I thanked Rep Lewis for his service and then told him about Bobo, my classmate at the time of his tragic death. He then mentions his recent visit to the site of the infamous Bryant’s Grocery, now a Historic Landmark on the Mississippi Freedom Trail, which made our meet all the more meaningful for me.
Emmett Louis Till
Sadly, as most well know, in the summer of 1955 while visiting relatives in Money Mississippi, Emmett Louis Till, we use to call him Bobo, a precocious 14-year old African American youth who, on a dare and being from Chicago, made the fatal mistake of playfully “whistling at a white woman” in the local grocery store. That fateful night, a few days later, he would be kidnapped from his uncle’s home, brutally tortured, ultimately murdered, his battered body weighted down and thrown in the Tallahatchie River by two white men, the women’s kin. Soon the horrific body would emerge and virtually shock the world.
At the persistence of Miss Mamie, Till’s mother, a Chicago schoolteacher who wanted “the world to see what they had done to my son,” an open-casket funeral was held which naturally awakened the universal consciousness within. Being our classmate, we got together and went to the wake. Mercifully, we girls were strongly advised not to view the body. Even grown men were stumbling out into the streets weeping, which were filled with grief-stricken Black folks as far as the eye could see. I would be haunted by this tragic event for years to come. Yet, little did I know then, that one day in meeting U.S. Congressman John Lewis, now a beloved Civil Rights Icon, I personally would receive a poetic justice for Bobo, my childhood classmate.
Though tried for Till’s murder, yet typical of the segregated South, the two men were acquitted by an all-white jury (yet later sold their murder confession to Look Magazine). Months later in December of 1955, while still remembering Till and his tragic death, Rosa Parks, an exhausted department store seamstress (also a trained NAACP non-violent activist) refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus, as then customary. Thus, formally kicking off the historic Montgomery Bus Boycotts and American Civil Rights Movement in which a very youthful John Lewis would ultimately play a crucial role.
Spiritual Warfare or Fighting The Good Fight
In my opinion, there are three legitimate levels of warfare in human affairs; each with its own distinct attributes. The first level being Physical Warfare: use of extreme force to restore the peace and preserve civilization. The next level being Intellectual Warfare: use of good words to point the mind toward truth and reconciliation. And the third level, which is Spiritual Warfare: the wise use of discernment that ultimately kills off the ego, a false self-image also known as false pride (or “the devil” in some cultures).
Hence, all truthseekers are destined to realize that it is the ego, a fear-based product of our own negative thinking that is the major cause of our problems. Having recognized the inner source of our troubles, “the good fight” begins and we become the proverbial Spiritual Warrior, fighting to uphold the truth. With truth comes wisdom, universal love, non-violence and unconditional happiness, which we willingly offer to all.
A recent example of a Spiritual Warrior in the political realm would be our own President Barack Obama, who moved mountains, it seems, to open the way for the LGBT community to live its truth or, as the beautiful transgender actress Laverne Cox recently said on national television (the View), “To live our T”.
Teaching Non-Violence in Our Public Schools, Our Greatest Hope
When asked to be taught wisdom (enlightenment), it has been said the Buddha replied that wisdom cannot be taught, but the way to wisdom can be taught!
Much in the same way, we cannot easily teach the power of universal love in a broken society. But we can pave the way through teaching non-violent principles for daily life in our public schools, which worked in the midst of chaos and violence in the past…and it will work again if we teach non-violence in our public schools.
Thus, teaching non-violence in our public schools is our greatest hope for a more perfect union. It is the way to jointly fight the good fight and rid our country of systemic racism. It is the way to world peace. It is the way. Think about it!
© Delores L. Adams and The Aunt Jemimah Post 2014. All rights reserved.
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