Church Service- MLK Day

Church Service

MLK DAY
Wilmington, DE

Martin Luther King Day

January 2014

I sit in the church, surrounded by strangers. Robert and Jaye sit beside me and from time to time, we exchange glances. Certain statements resonate with us and we look to each other in disbelief.

The preacher talks about the new Jim Crow era.  Just saying that name brings about several "Amen brother, I hear ya, that’s right.”

People nod in agreement and wave their hands in the air. It is like the first crank of a wined up toy. Not a whole lot of action but you know more is to follow. People are now fidgeting in their seats, getting ready to respond. They lean forward, ready to participate.

“And you know we have to do something for our brothers and sisters in jail. We have to some something right now.” He stamps his foot for emphasis. This statement is affirmed by everyone in the audience and I think to myself: I don’t know anyone in jail.

“African Americana make up 75% of all the inmates but only 12% of the population in this country. Now how is that? You tell me!” He shouts, “ What is wrong with that?”

There is thunderous clapping. People stand, giving a resounding ovation to the minister. He wipes his forehead and thanks them. “Brothers and sisters, we got to do something and we got to do it now. They got enough of us in jail now. No more, no more.”

There is a guest speaker. She is 40 years old. She did three years in jail for drug possession. She is introduced and she opens her speech by singing A Motherless Child. They cheers and shouts to her as she weeps through this song.

“Amen sister!”

“Uh-huh. You know it.”

“That’s right.”

“Sing it girl.”

“Yea, we all motherless sometimes.”

Her deep, powerful voice demands our attention. The words grab hold of all of us.  I am drawn to her dark, strong presence. She tells the story of her life before the age of 13: rape, incest, abuse, drugs, poverty, and abandonment. She speaks of a world that is so familiar to those in the audience but so foreign, so unspeakable to me.

Everyone should have my childhood. Barbie dolls, Girl Scouts, camps, a bike, two parents and a safe home because life is hard enough when you have everything going for you. But when you throw in rape and alcoholism and poverty then life becomes unbearable. And it appears as if everyone in this room knows what the speaker is talking about. They have lived a life that is too, too hard to live.