Cautioning that in celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., people often domesticate and water down his message, Pastor Drew G.I. Hart, a theology professor at Messiah College, urged people instead to affirm the dignity and worth of every person to honor King.

Its important to find times to really learn from him. So often we rehearse or almost freeze Dr. King in 1963 at the giving of his I Have a Dream speech, Hart said.

I think now we have the great urgency in our moment to deepen our commitments to truth telling, to compassion, to an unwavering focus on deepening injustice and an attentiveness to the liberating and healing presence of God in our world. And so, Dr. King modeled that kind of life in his public witness, Hart said.

In memory of Dr. King, now is the time to stand up and speak up against injustice near and far. Now is the time to hold tight to love in our struggle against hatred, apathy and greed, he added.

Hart was the featured speaker on the first day of events scheduled for Dream Week to honor Kings birthday and life. Because of the weather, Hart delivered his presentation, titled a Revolution of Values, virtually.

In his talk, Hart addressed what King called the triple evils of racism, materialism and militarism.

Over the past couple years, many people in our nation have once again, been confronted with the way systems of policing in the United States often steal, kill and destroy Black life, he said.

In the summer of 2020, some Americans began awakening to the racist systems and patterns that exist in our country, as they witnessed the racial violence and the response of uprisings and activism. For a few, this moment pulled the curtain back on the anti-Black cycles of death that have plagued our society for centuries, Hart stated.

The global pandemic, according to Hart, also revealed a lot about how our nation addresses the needs of our most vulnerable population.

It was a moment when our interconnectedness seemed to be so obvious because of what we do as individuals affects others and not just ourselves. And yet, we have been unable to work together communally and some have even refused to consider the well being of their neighbor, he said,

Despite having enormous economic resources as a nation, our government stumbled, conspiracies thrived, faith leaders stumbled and too many people have avoided prioritizing the needs of those who are most vulnerable, he stated.

Our response reveals a moral bankruptcy and a hard-heartedness deep in the soul of the nation, Hart added.

Hart cited statistics that revealed there are half a million people without homes in this country, not, he contended, from a lack of resources, but from a lack of regard for the well being of our neighbors.

The animosity towards redistributing the abundance of resources our nation has for the well being of all, always seems especially striking when considering our unwavering commitment to funding things like the war machine and the military-industrial complex. Our nation has budgeted close to $800 billion so we can dominate the globe to our advantage, he said.

This disparity between funding militarism and finding support for eradicating poverty was addressed by Hart.

These were the kinds of issues that Dr. King in his latter years of his life was addressing, especially in terms of how they were interrelated with one another. He understood that racism, materialism and militarism were bound up together and were degrading our efforts towards mutual thriving, he said.

He defined what he called thin racismpersonal prejudice and hatredand thick racismhow we structure policies and practices of society to provide advantages to some and disadvantages to othersand how the latter has shaped history.

Weve actually had policies and practices in place that go back decades or sometimes centuries that shaped peoples lived experiences even in the present, he said.

Police discrimination as one dimension of a centuries-long history of oppression of racial minorities has been humiliating, degrading and at times, death-dealing, Hart said.

Statistics show that Black people are three times more like to be killed by police and 98.3% of all police killings occurred without any charges being brought, Hart stated.

Police are often used for social control of people of color, poor people and to suppress social movements for change. This has become the norm for how many vulnerable neighborhoods experience policing systems, he said.

Nevertheless we continue to pour and invest more and more economics resources into the same systems expecting different results, he added.

The issue of racism in American can only be solved with what King called the revolution of values and practice, before any policies can be changed.

We will need to be able to recognize that everyone is made in the image of God and therefore have inherent dignity and worth, Hart said.

Part of bringing about this change is receiving the stories of those who have suffered discrimination and allowing their experiences to transform society.

We will have to confront, challenge and transform the systems and policies that perpetuate so much violence. But more broadly, if were going to tackle racism as it manifests in a variety of dimensions in our society, it will require telling a more true full story of our nations history, he said.

Hart cautioned against allowing those who oppose Critical Race Theory to shut down any attempt at teaching our racist history and contemporary challenges.

He addressed the fact that people have been deprived a share of the nations wealth because of the color of their skin through intentional discrimination and commission.

We could go on and on about all the different policies and practices at the national, state and local levels that contributed to turning Black neighborhoods into economic resource deserts, he said.

Thats why we need to heed Dr. Kings invitation and undergo a radical revolution of values practice, Hart said.

He noted that the Poor Peoples Campaign begun by King has been revived.

This is a movement inviting us to link arms in solidarity with vulnerable people across the nation and across the globe. he said.

Like us, the theology of Shalom or mutuality and harmony, Hart said that the current manifestation of the Poor Peoples Campaign all of creation interdependently thriving and living into the divine dream for all of us.

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Speaker affirms Dr. King's message; 'Now is the time to stand up against injustice' - Williamsport Sun-Gazette