Hanging on to Hope

Dear Friends,

On Monday, we will celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was born 92 years ago into a moment much like the one we’re in today – wrought with racial violence, income inequality and a rise in authoritarianism around the globe. But rather than despair over our failure to solve these problems a century later, let’s honor Dr. King by celebrating the progress we have made and refusing to give up the hope that he saw from the mountaintop. He knew that the hoped-for world would be fiercely resisted by those at the top of the caste system, and yet he urged his followers not to give up. He filled them with courage to face the hatred and be true to the power of nonviolence. We honor him with the same courage and hope despite the chaos and hatred around us. As Márquez-Greene points out in the quote below, we are not just getting rid of a disruption, we are trying to change the entire room, and that takes a while. We look for the helpers, the guardians, the bright lights among us and we hang on with care for ourselves and each other…Betsy

"White supremacy is not the elephant in the room. It is the room." Nelba Márquez-Greene