Channeling Langston Hughes: ‘Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed’

I’m still struggling with the recent events in our nation’s capital. For me, it’s pondering what it means to be an American and whether those who have faith can find moral clarity about those whose grievances led them to violence. It’s an infectious violence that emanates from extremism on the right or the left, and which each side condemns.

Where are the leaders who can speak to the hour on behalf of this nation? We need that moral vision.

America became a nation thanks to protests, beginning with a revolution against an oppressive monarchy. We have seen generations of protests throughout our history, many times leading to violence. We endured a Civil War over 150 years ago. That term has recently been invoked to describe what we are going through right now. I do not know the solution to so much rage and anger.

But I can tell you this. What gives me a framework to address these issues is a verse from the biblical prophet Zachariah. “Not by might and not by power but by My spirit says the Lord Almighty” (4:6-8).

I am searching for that divine spirit, not only in myself but in the core of this nation. I look to our history and read about the generations of pain and anger that opposing sides in the world of politics and in the culture of America caused each other. The themes repeat themselves with the people who fight against prejudice and the people who fight to get their country back.

When will we learn the lessons from our past? Can we find much needed unity among America’s houses of worship to oppose violence? The truth is that some clergy and their disciples have contributed to our problems, instigating or giving sanctuary to some of the most extreme prejudice. The silence from the pulpit also contributes to apathy and, ultimately, to the assent to violence.

So are we saying that religion has no place in this spiritual and moral struggle today? Is the implication that religious leaders should shut up and ignore the moral questions that have left this huge vacuum in our nation today?

Clearly, many will reject these words, seeing armed conflict as the only solution to their grievances. The words of the prophets will not change their minds. But we can chip away at a few who are open to change, who might see that their actions will not achieve their desired ends nor what is best for America.

There are a few converts to be made for the side that rejects violence and embraces peace first. I’m not against silence, but I oppose silence if it gives a wink and a nod to the violence and the destruction of human life or property.

We should let people protest to their heart’s content. Scream to the high heavens for the cause and march all day long. Vote those we oppose out of office.

Our protests can change how we conduct business in this country. Yet there are limits to change. For example, how do we change people’s race, gender, sexual orientation? God created us all in the image of the Divine. That is the single most important principle that reminds us why we should strive to keep our nation whole. This is what America is.

Some call their crusade a struggle for human rights. Others describe their cause to get their country back.

American poet Langston Hughes wrote:

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

But opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air we breathe.

O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,

We, the people, must redeem

The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain—

All, all the stretch of these great green states—

And make America again!

I want to help make America again. Maybe we never had that ideal country, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we must work for that kind of America. It’s why we cannot give an inch toward sanctioning extremism that leads to violence on any side of the political spectrum. Have we not seen enough of the consequences with our own eyes?