A victory won and not yet won

A Victory Won and Not Yet Won

a poem by Joel Howard; in honor of MLK day

Hebrews 2 speaks of the devil

Inspiring fear of death in us

To keep us as slaves

Today I cried

Reading Martin Luther King Jr's 

Quotes as I stood 

With a group of 8th graders

I thought of Sophia and I

As answers to MLK's prayer

That black boys and girls

Would join hands with 

white boys and girls - 

It was his goal, his dream

I listened to his 

"The Other America"

speech given in 1967

At Stanford University

He talked of

lingering racism,

whose ultimate logic

Is genocide. He cited

6 million Jews' death

as Hitler's example..

When students

talked about me in

8th grade class today

I explained to them

That "I'm a listener

And seek to understand."

I asked them if they agreed

that "the lack of listening

Is a root to many 

of our problems?"

We discussed and 

They agreed..

May we slow down

this January 21st

On MLK day

And celebrate what

victories his fight

accomplished

As well as those

not yet won

May I listen

before shouting a conclusion

May I love

to avoid bearing hate's load

May I believe

and opt not to interpret others' silence

May I stay still

rather than go with the popular side

May I sit with discomfort

and honor Christ

May I sit with discomfort

And remember the past

How our Statue of Liberty 

reads, "America is the

home of exiles"

May I welcome the outcast and 

Chose a moment of silence

to curb my anger and rage; 

Question my conclusions,

Check my biases

Seek to understand

Rather than to be known 

To be second

Rather than to be first

May I celebrate equality

and fight for equality

In my big moments

And in my small ones

In public and in private

And may our Lord

Deliver us from bondage

and slavery in each

And every area of life

As a country, as churches

As families, as couples

And as people