From Resolution to Reconcilitation

0:10 So everything that Michael Waters prayed is in the speech I wanted to say. So I want to thank him for his prophetic witness, even through prayer. Let me say thank you, first of all, to the Martin Luther King Center for the wonderful way that they are upholding the prophetic legacy of Dr. King. They are to be applauded for their work, not just during the holiday season, but throughout the year. So we appreciatively applaud them for their work. Let me also acknowledge with appreciation and admiration all of our elected officials for your service and for your work. We are indeed grateful. Let me thank the members of Friendship West for showing up and showing out in such a wonderful way. Thank you for your presence. I must also acknowledge with affection and love my lovely wife.

1:04 Thank you so much, Deb, for your presence and support. I have two councilpersons, Casey Thomas. I live in his district, and my church is in the district of Tennell Atkins, so I've got to shout out my councilperson so that the mic won't go off on me while I'm here. Our theme is powerful, and so I'm going to do what I can to address it. Our theme, of course, is Reconciliation, colon, Moving the Dream Forward. Reconciliation, colon, Moving the Dream Forward. This appears, as far as I'm concerned, to be a remix of the title of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last book. His last book was a prophetic warning to what Maya Angelou calls these yet-to-be United States of America. The title of the book, his last book, is Where Do We Go From Here?

2:01 Chaos or Community? Parenthetically, you will agree with me that evidently our nation has chosen chaos. As a consequence, Captain Chaos operates from the White House and is trying to hold our nation hostage while building a wall instead of building bridges. Captain Chaos is taking over this country and the sad reality is Martin Luther King Jr. again in his last book prophetically warned us that we were at a crossroads. crossroads we had a choice to make chaos or community well Dallas according to our theme at least during the celebration and commemoration of the life legacy and liberating love of the drum major for justice Martin Luther King Jr. is daring to choose community because our theme is what reconciliation moving the dream forward again a remix on the title up the last book up the drum major for justice Martin Luther King I've got to be honest and keep it real my sisters and brothers when I received the theme and the invitation I say it for real for real Dallas wants to deal honestly with reconciliation for real Dallas wants to talk about moving the dream forward.

3:30 Dallas, are you serious? This is Dallas, a city that has held up the nightmare of Dr. King while in a real sense speaking with wonderful words about the dream of Dr. King. Dallas wants to deal with reconciliation. Are you playing, Dallas? Are you serious, Dallas? Do you know how true and serious this theme is? This theme, if we take it seriously, will liberate us from chaos and move us toward community. Dallas, are you for real? For real? Are you talking about community and reconciliation? After all, we are talking about Dallas. I'll see if I can make this real plain. Dr. King, in that book, Where Do We Go From Here, his very last chapter of his very last book is entitled What the World House.

4:27 It is based on an illuminating illustration. A famous novelist had died, and according to Dr. King, when the novelist died, found among his papers were some plots for some upcoming novels. One of the most prominent of those particular plots was a plot about a widely divided and separated family that had the responsibility of living in one house under one roof. and Dr. King began to extrapolate the metaphor speaking of how technology has made of our world a neighborhood and he was calling on us to make it a brotherhood and sisterhood. We are all living in this house. I want to go ahead and remix it and say that Dallas is a house. I flew in this morning primarily for this engagement and of course while flying in I had what Erykah Badu would call a window seat.

5:34 And y'all, I got to check out the external view of this house. And what a house it is. It is a house with a scintillating skyline. It is a house with high rises that appear to kiss the turquoise skies. It is quite a house on the outside. Dallas has built quite a house. Do you see the scintillating skyline? do you see the bustling bridges and the booming buildings on the outside of the house. But then the plane landed and once the plane landed I came in the house and now that I am in the house I've got to talk not about what we see outside the house but we've got to deal with what's inside the house because inside the house there is a penthouse for those who are up and in at the expense of those in the basement of impoverishment who are down and out. Dallas likes to call itself a first-class city but sadly there are those who are living in third world conditions. That's what's going on in the house. And so Dallas, are you for real, for real? We are in this house and in this house. You know what happened last year. We were called out by the Urban Institute that looked at the division and lack of inclusion in Dallas. And out of 274 cities with populations in excess of $100,000 Dallas is number 274.

7:12 That's what's going on in the house. In the house, you have a city that is divided by north and south. And as a consequence, 14% of all employment is on the south side. 86% is on the north side. It's Tennell Atkins, as you say, a tale of two cities. Since you didn't get tailed of two cities, let me go. with 50 Cent. 50 Cent, I think, has a program called Power, and in Power, they open up with this song, It's a Big Rich Town. I just come from the poorest part, and y'all, that's what we're saying because you've invited me down to City Hall. Thank you for the invite, but I'm here to let y'all know now that I'm in the house, it's a big rich town, and I pastor on the poorest side, And with that being the case, if we're going to get real about reconciliation, if we're going to keep it 100 about reconciliation, I think it's really nice that you're going to have a resolution in honor of Dr. King in just a matter of moments.

8:23 But my question, Dallas, is will you move from resolution to reconciliation? Because to get from resolution to reconciliation, it's going to mean that we've got to keep it real and we've got to be radical. There it is. Keep it real and we're going to have to be radical. Y'all invited me, so I'm about to go there. And since we're going to keep it real and be radical, please understand, my sisters and brothers, that Dallas, in a real sense, on the one hand, has to keep it real. I like that right there because reconciliation, oftentimes, we like to cheapen it. And we talk about coming together in unity while we don't change the structures and the systems that preclude unity. Y'all do recognize that outcomes are the result of unjust structures.

9:18 It's not about someone being mean to you and calling you the N-word. It's about systems and structures that are unjust and treat you like the N-word. And until we deal with systems and structures, we're just hypocritically playing games with the dream of the drum major for justice. And so I'm here to say let's keep it 100. That's what the hip-hop community would say, because we've got to keep it 100 and hear the words of, who is it, Lauren Hill, when she talks about black rage is founded on blatant denial, squeezed economic subsistence, survival, deafening silence, and social control. Black rage is founded on wounds on the soul. You may not get it, but there is rage in these streets because of systems and structures that are unjust. Dallas, it's something wrong when we have to leave the south side of town to get oncology services in this city because they're only on the north side of town.

10:26 It's a big rich town, but we in the poorest part claiming to celebrate the dream of Dr. King. You can't move the dream forward as long as we are a tale of two cities. We can't dream the move forward. We can't move the dream forward as long as there are those who see police as those who serve and protect them as their personal security. and others call the police and it's really a game of Russian roulette. I'm trying to let you know, my sisters and brothers, in honor of both them, John, yeah, Michael Waters, say his name, who got killed in his own apartment complex. It's time for accountability where we see in our community that police are our partners and not our predators. And that won't be done until there is a new system of police accountability in this city.

11:26 Yes, we got to keep it 100. Y'all not feeling me, but I got to really go there. Can we keep it 100 like the Queen of Soul? I know we like to leave her singing R-E-S-P-E-C-T, but y'all do know she was also an activist. As a matter of fact, she used her gifts and her platform to make sure that Dr. King and SCLC received funding. And one time she upset her father, the great Dr. C.L. Franklin, because she had the nerve to raise money for Angela Davis. And when her father found out, he was upset. And here was her classic response. She said, I've been arrested in Detroit for disturbing the peace. And I've discovered sometimes you've got to disturb the peace when you can't get no peace. And I'm simply trying to say if we're going to honor Martin Luther King Jr., I hope someone will say we can't have unity unless somebody is willing to disturb the peace.

12:29 You disturb the peace because you're sick and tired of a status quo that leaves you sick and tired. Preach Freddie Haynes. I'm trying not to, but I'm getting close. I'm simply trying to say, Dallas, we've got to keep it 100. But then not only must we keep it real, we've got to dare to be radical. I like that word radical. Some of y'all scared of radical. But when you etymologically unpack the word radical, Shirley Isom Newsom, you already know where I'm going. The word radical means to get at the root of what's wrong. The word radical means you've got to uproot what is wrong. if you want things to get right. And all I'm trying to say, Dallas, a resolution is cute and cool, but make sure the resolution includes repairing what you broke because we're here in Dallas, according to the brilliant author of The Color of Law, because public policy ensured that black people would be positioned or segregated into communities that were floodplains.

13:36 black people would move into communities that were then divested. Black people and brown people find themselves going to schools that are underfunded, overcrowded. Why? Because all of that is the result of public policy. And a resolution is not going to get rid of a policy that has left our community broken. And if you're going to honor Dr. King, don't live in his nightmare, but really push for his dream of justice in public policy. In Dallas, I say this, and I get ready to wrap it up, never get so comfortable with charity that you don't push for justice. Because we like to talk about what we do for the impoverished, and that's real cute.

14:33 But if you don't give them a job with the living wage, you can give them a meal all you want to but they want a job with the living wage if you don't provide wraparound services to those who are homeless that deal with mental illness that deal with what got them homeless to begin with that's what dr. King was talking about he was not talking about a handout of charity he was talking about hands that build a house of justice Well, I've held y'all too long, so I'll go ahead and wrap it like this. We often hear about Martin King, Jr., but not Martin King, Sr. Before there was a Martin King, Jr., there was a Mama King. There was a Daddy King. And Martin King, Sr., according to the wonderful book, The Seminarian, which talks about the theological undergirdings of Martin King that he got at Crozier Theological Seminary.

15:36 There we learned that he had a father, Martin King Sr., who was a prophetic witness like these who were joining me at this moment, who recognized that it's time out for preachers being the pimps of our community. We need preachers who have the prophetic courage to take a stand and speak truth to power and say in the words of Amos, let justice roll down as waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Dallas, you got a new brand of preacher now. A preacher now that's going to stand and speak courageously as preacher that can't get bought off because we're not going to be paid by politicians. Instead, we're going to hold politicians accountable. That's what I'm talking about. And so here it is.

16:29 Martin King Sr. was one of those preachers. And in that book, The Seminary, and I'm done, every day Martin King Sr. went downtown from Sweet Auburn Avenue, Ebenezer Church, to City Hall in the 30s and 40s. And there was an elevator, only one, that said, white only. Only one elevator in the whole building. And it said white only. But you know what King Sr. did? He went and got on the elevator anyhow. And because he got on the elevator anyhow, he kept going and kept going until one day they brought the sign down. He had to disrupt what was wrong in order to make something right. I got to do that one more time. Sometimes you've got to disrupt what's wrong if you're going to make stuff right. I'm glad he disrupted what was wrong. Because he disrupted what was wrong, Atlanta got a mayor named Maynard Jackson, a mayor named Andrew Young, and today you got a sister named Keisha.

17:31 All because Martin Luther King, Sr. decided to go where he shouldn't have gone until the sign came down. And we're here to say we're going to go where we shouldn't go until those Confederate monuments come down. that are monuments to white supremacy. We're going to go where we shouldn't go until there is economic justice in this country, in this city. We're going where we shouldn't go until Dallas is one city under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.