Publisher's Note: Trumpism has upended American democracy in large measure by dominating the attention of supporters and opponents alike. It will succeed to the extent that it exhausts our capacity to imagine a new civic future. The intent of this newsletter is to provide an antidote to our exhaustion through a short daily reflection and a space for discussion to reclaim the heart of our democracy and imagine a better future for all. This week's theme is Turning Our Attention.
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Meditations for the Resistance
Daily Attentional, Volume 1, Week 1
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“Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
Beloved community is built when dignity is defended in public.
Beloved community is often spoken of as an ideal peaceful reconciled whole. But Martin Luther King Jr. was clear that beloved community is not sentiment. It is a moral force, born of the disciplined struggle to fight injustice while supporting our fellow citizens. “Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people,” King said.
That practice begins with the active protection of the vulnerable, and extends to all our fellow citizens.
We maintain beloved community through our moral presence and action. We refuse to mirror cruelty, but we do not retreat from conflict. Beloved community must be the basis for our laws, institutions and collective action. Love without community is fragile; community without love is brutal.
Norman Rockwell’s "The Problem We All Live With" captures this truth with incisive clarity. The oil painting depicts six-year-old Ruby Bridges entering the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in 1960 during the New Orleans desegregation battle. The figure of the child walks forward, flanked by federal marshals whose faces are cropped out. They are us, bringing community where love is absent. The image insists that community does not become beloved through goodwill alone. It becomes beloved when injustice is confronted and constrained.
When we fail to act, injustice always redounds to the children and the most vulnerable among us. Are we willing to let them bear the cost of these trying times?
- Martin Luther King Jr., "Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story" (1958).
- Norman Rockwell, "The Problem We All Live With" (1964). Norman Rockwell Museum.
COMING TOMORROW: My Freedom Does Not End with Me
