But last week I got an e-mail about a group of protesters from Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) coming to DC to protest at the Kennedy Centre, the Islamic Centre and American University. And this is where I got defensive for my school, for the staff I know there or crossed paths with, and the students I studied with or are studying since. I got defensive for everyone and wanted to go and say no one should interrupt the important work you are doing, no one should disrespect you, especially in the name of God.
Today in MLK Day. Harder to remember this in South Africa, but still an important day and an important leader globally. I think of the leaders here that died, but also the ones that didn’t and brought South Africa forward. What if MLK hadn’t died so young where would his ministry have taken the United States if it continued? How do we continue it?
And so I remember messages of love and how do we use them with the epic strength there can be in love…
Protesters came to American University to use wrath and judgment in the name of God. I personally have some pretty large issues with people who take the name of God to discriminate and question and harm. American University is a place full of faith and where faith is questions. Personally it is a stop on my faith journey if you want to travel back on the map. There are many types of faith present and radically different beliefs. I think the largest attack at AU was towards the entire community towards acceptance of different types of sexuality. We have a very strong GBLTA community at AU and an even stronger social justice community. And it is not a bubble where no one faces problems, acceptance and truly seeing another person is not cakewalk. But it is a step closer to walking towards a just place. It is on the path to understanding what love is and how to love our neighbor.
So yes I got defensive, because it was an attack on people and a community I am part of. A community that I stand with and I defend, because all people need a safe place and too many people just asking to be themselves especially in the GBLT community face hate or violence. I have many other blogs to write on the perspectives I have seen from Africa. And truthfully sometimes on my blog I am not as vocal as I could be. The situations I have faced here require face-to-face conversations, and do not always produce understanding, but many misunderstandings can come from my spouting.
Truthfully I know everyone at AU is an adult, but it still felt like adults coming to interrupt school and a place of learning. Though I think everyone at AU stepped forward to take a bigger lesson than a class can offer. (This is maybe a frequent occurrence in some ways at AU; the learning is definitely not all in the classroom.)
The entire community worked hard to respond through love. The United Methodist theme for the week was Oscar Romero’s words “Let us never tire of preaching love… love must win out; it is the only thing that can.”
For more information on all the ways the campus responded visit http://www.aumethodists.org/wbc/ “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” – MLK. And they stood together to spread love instead.
Let us never tire. I will work on my defensiveness that has more turned into pride. I will continue to hope the WBC people can see and really see the people around them, or some face-to-face conversation will plant more seeds on understanding. I will wear my Oscar Romero bag this week and remember this power of love (and try to explain who Oscar Romero is to the stares I get at the bag.)
Let us love. When it is an injustice far away and when it is one that targets us and comes knocking at our doors. And let us make sure no one has to stand alone in the face of hatred, love should not have to be a lonely place.
Happy MLK day, let love direct our actions. Let love be the ‘force that will overcome the world.’
Besides, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
With love,
Hannah
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