Birmingham

Let justice roll down like water, righteousness like a mighty stream.
For our grandsons and granddaughters remember to remember the dream

Welcome to Songs and Stories from Home as we continue to Remember the Dream. This week BIRMINGHAM 

In the Spring of 1963, I turned sixteen years old while thousands of students my age were taking to the streets in Birmingham, Alabama to protest institutional racism in their city. The grainy black and white videos and photographs of the non-violent students being pummeled by firehoses, attacked by dogs, choked by teargas, beaten with billy clubs, and herded into paddy wagons echo down the corridors of time and into the streets today. Streets alive once more among them the grandchildren of those attacked in Birmingham fifty-seven years ago.    

The demands on those streets haven’t changed that much in all these years –voices proclaiming enough is enough – that we want more – demand more - to be treated with dignity – to be given an equal opportunity at what is left of the American Dream – to be recognized and written correctly into the history of this nation – to take down from their pedestals those who inappropriately appropriated the story of this country.

For many people my age this may be our last chance to say our piece. To make peace. With ourselves. With our past. With our grandchildren’s future. What will we choose? Will we choose to align ourselves with those who want to make more true the lasting words of the Declaration of Independence – that we are all created equal – agree with the scriptures that proclaim all equally precious on the eyes of that creator? Will we stand with those who kneel and pledge allegiance to a flag that once and for all offers liberty and justice for all. 

My belief is that the more we know about history – about where we came from – the better we can figure out where we want to go – where we are going. And that’s why I think it is important to Remember the Dream. This week, Birmingham.

Let justice roll down like water, righteousness like a mighty stream.
For our grandsons and granddaughters remember to remember the dream