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Mast's Musings
The 16 Percent
It was January of 1986 that the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday was formally established. I found myself in Atlanta on that weekend 25 years ago and participated in the kick off festivities. I shall never forget sitting in the fourth pew from the front of EbenezerBaptistChurch on the Sunday evening that Coretta Scott King, Vice President Bush, Bishop Tutu and a multitude of national and world leaders inaugurated the holiday.
I would suspect that if Dr. King were around today, he would remind us that with all of the talk about the 99% and the 1 %, that we have forgotten about the 16% -more than 50 million people - who find themselves living, indeed barely surviving, below the poverty line. If slavery was America's great sin, then so many people trying to eke out a living in the richest country on earth is our great embarrassment. How is it possible for us to live in such great affluence, where yesterday's luxuries have become today's necessities, andyet be reminded of how many children of the next generation cannot imagine the dream of a safe and productive life?
Just a few months before the inauguration of the King Holiday, I received my PhD intheological studies from Drew University. The commencement speaker for the day was Senator Bill Bradley, who represented New Jersey in the U.S. Congress. He observed during his address that every society on earth must finally be judged not by how rich it is, but by how it treated the poor, the last and the least. While Senator Bradley didn't cite Matthew chapter 25, I remember thinking that his words were consistent with those of Jesus. How we treat the hungry, the thirsty, those in prison and those who wander through life without purpose, is the ultimate measuring stick of the "success" of a society.
And so as we turn toward another election year, I hear Dr. King reminding us that while the middle class may be important to our long term health, it is how we treat the 16% -the marginalized and the voiceless- that finally measures the greatness of the American soul and spirit. Who will get my vote in 2012? It will be the person who hasn't forgotten the 16%, and who has a dream for our future!
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