[Our Turn]  A Call for Understanding

March 23, 2011

On March 25, 2011, the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, in cooperation with Jackson State University, will host Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan to deliver the keynote address at their annual Civil Rights Conference. To some, this selection makes sense, as Minister Farrakhan is a leader in a number of African American communities.

To many others, however, this invitation to be the keynote speaker at a convention commemorating the Civil Rights Movement and honoring one of its many enduring messages, “Respect for All,” is not only perplexing, it is downright offensive. Minister Farrakhan has spoken out against Catholics for “subjecting black people to a white-kind of theology”; Jews for having a “dirty/gutter religion”; and homosexuals, whom he recently referred to as “swine.”

Taking more accurately the universal message of the Civil Rights Movement to heart, this letter is not a call for silence, as that would be antithetical to the Movement as well. Rather, this letter is a call for understanding. We encourage attendees of Minister Farrakhan’s address to inform themselves of the larger history from which he draws and distorts. Through educating ourselves, we may draw a more accurate picture of our reality, not allowing potentially hate-filled or divisive rhetoric to divide our ever-improving community. Additionally, we encourage participation in the other programs that day more in tune with the Civil Rights Movement and the lessons it offers:

• Hank Thomas, a Civil Rights Freedom Rider, will be delivering his stirring firsthand account at Millsaps College (1701 North State St.) at 12:30 p.m. as part of the Rabbi Perry Nussbaum Lecture Series.

• Bishop Ronnie Crudup and his of New Horizon congregation will be joining the Congregation of Beth Israel (5315 Old Canton Road) for a united prayer session focusing on “Civil Rights and Tolerance in a Diverse Community” at 6:15 p.m. All are welcome.

By engaging in these ways, we follow honorably in the footsteps of diverse Americans who marched together, before us, helping our entire society embrace the vision that regardless of race or religion, creed or color, national origin, sexual orientation or political affiliation, no one should be excluded from noble heritage that is America: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. May we honor them and their message, on this day and every day, by honoring one another. Let’s continue to build and repair, not tear down or tear apart.

Reverend Dr. T.W. Lewis
Sister Deborah Hughes
Reverend Frank Spencer
Pastor Bruce Case
Reverend Edward O’Connor
Pastor Jim Becker
Rabbi Valerie Cohen
Dr. John Brashier
Reverend Thomas Clark
Reverend Phil Reed
Reverend Su McLain
Mr. Macy Hart
Pastor Robert Blanton
Dr. Susan M. Glisson
Reverend Sally Fran Ross
Rabbi Debra Kassoff
Rabbi Marshal Klaven
Mr. Charles H. Tucker
Dr. Harold Kolodney, Jr.
Peter H. Meyers, MTS
Mrs. Beatrice Gotthelf
Reverend Amy Joyner Finkelberg
Mrs. Erin Read Summerlin
Mr. Ricky Jackson

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