“keep on pushing… i’ve got to keep on pushing (mmm-hmm)
I can’t stop now…move up a little higher…some way, somehow…’cause I’ve got my strength….and it don’t make sense not to keep on pushin.’
– ” Keep on pushing,” The Impressions
After a week or so into the new year, what’s your opinion about critical needs facing our nation to keep us moving forward and not backtracking in our journey toward a more perfect union? And was the past year, a turbulent one at that, just a one off or was it indicative of the year and years ahead?
Now while pondering answers to those questions, read the following excerpt from a column:
“That need assumes fresh urgency and new poignancy in a nation where succession is bruited about like some dirty joke, mosques are burned, mass incarceration is practiced, “hatred” is too strong a word to describe the political atmosphere, and a Black boy walking with candy and iced tea in his pockets is deemed worthy of the death penalty. Obviously we have work to do. And yet….”
Now tell us your best guess as to when this was written.
In 2024? Nope!
How about year 2020? Wrong, but nice try!
Well, the truth is that nearly a dozen years ago – on November 17, 2013, to be exact – Nobel Prize winning writer Leonard Pitts, Jr. wrote that at the beginning of his column about a “need” for America to redefine itself. To drive his point home, he cited Abraham Lincoln’s ‘All men are created equal’ Gettysburg Address and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I have a dream’ speech as reminders and points of historical reference. But in the interest of time and conservation of space here, you may want to Google those two addresses as refreshers then return to this piece afterwards.
Okay, now that we’ve stepped into a new year, one that portends to be one for the ages, a fair question to ask the nation – and the individual in the mirror – is whether the need, urgency and poignancy as articulated by Mr. Pitts over a decade ago are alive and still relevant. Yes? No?
Well, in the humble opinion of yours truly, the answer is yes, an emphatic yes, and now more than ever. And I’m not alone. I say that because in no uncertain terms pastor and “The Beautiful Mess” author John Pavlovitz thinks so. Here’re excerpts from one of his latest pieces, “The United States of Embarrassment.”
“Lately, I confess that I’ve been imagining myself in a way I never have before in over a half-century of living here in America: I’m imagining myself as an expat. At first, it was difficult to admit this newly-burgeoning fantasy of flight from my place of birth—until I found out how many here are similarly prone to daydreaming right now, as well. Since November 5th, tens of millions of Americans moved from national pride to abject humiliation literally almost overnight, exchanging the promise and possibility of what we could be for the grim reality of what we are. We spent a few horrible days or weeks in stunned sadness—and most of the rest of the time since, alternating between rage and shame. So yes, we are united here in our great embarrassment; young and old, black and white, believer and Atheist, men and women, red state and blue state, straight and gay and transgender. We are all greatly ashamed of the America that the world is experiencing and the one we see us becoming—and no we’re not leaving, even if those loud and angry few who are not embarrassed of all this would prefer we did. We are staying to push back, to advocate for one another, to repair what is being damaged. We are staying to be the dignified and rational response to the most undignified and irrational behavior by those in our leadership. We are staying because we know that our nation is better than those who have commandeered it and made it into the present planetary joke that it is” Now as an add on to Mr. Pavlovitz message and a segue to the end of this piece, here’s and excerpt from the famous speech by sports legend Jim Valvano, on he delivered just before he succumbed to cancer: “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” And that’s what I’m going to try to do every minute that I have left. I will thank God for the day and the moment I have. And if you see me smile and maybe give me a hug cause that’s important to me, too.”
Valvano
Back now to where we are today. As I write this, we’re still trying to wrap our heads around the shock of some 15 revelers getting mowed down in New Orleans, ongoing threats to our federal courts, promises of retribution, book banning, immigration blaming, all sustained by exploiting fears and divisive rhetoric. So, as I bring this piece to a close – yes, with more questions than answers – let’s go to a famous poem by England’s John Donne as an add on to the previously cited Lincoln and King messages: No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, As well as if a promontory were: As well as if a manor of thy friend’s Or of thine own were.
Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”
– “No Man Is an Island,” John Donne
In the end, here we are baby steps into an already turbulent new year and, yes Mr. Pitts, you’re absolutely right…. obviously, we have work to do. And yet….!
Terry Howard is an award-winning writer, a contributing writer with the Chattanooga News Chronicle, The American Diversity Report, The Douglas County Sentinel, Blackmarket.com, recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award, and third place winner of the Georgia Press Award.
