The Stumbling Block to Justice in Our Community
As Burke residents continue campaigning for removal of a Confederate monument from Downtown Morganton, Martin Luther King Jr's words regarding "white moderates" remain relevant.
MORGANTON, NC—Thunder and lightning were clapping and striking across the sky Tuesday, July 18th above the Burke County Services Building, as Burke residents gathered for the monthly County Commissioners’ Meeting.
The usual cadre of people were there representing their respective committees, departments, and non-governmental organizations.
Several presentations were delivered before the informal comments portion of the meeting took place, highlighted by a charming visit from a recently rescued pit bull, Pigeon, who not only tagged along with Burke County Animal Services employees, but starred in a short, tear-inducing video played for attendants, recounting her miraculous recovery.
(No Sarah McLachlan music necessary.)
Normally, this would easily have been the most emotional moment of the night for me, had it not been for one other wrinkle added to the meeting’s agenda one week prior.
My name.
Burke Coalition for Reconciliation Continues Its Work in the Community
As has become customary at each of these meetings since January 2021, multiple community members spoke to the Board decrying the continued presence of a Confederate monument located in Downtown Morganton. Most of these speakers have been involved in the grassroots organization Burke Coalition for Reconciliation (BCfR), although many residents have spoken independently.
BCfR has also been meeting monthly, rotating between various local churches and businesses, including Thornwell Books, Divinity Donuts, First Presbyterian Church, and New Day Christian Church, among others.
These concerned citizens gather to discuss and organize to accomplish 3 primary goals:
Removing the Confederate monument from the Historic Burke County Courthouse lawn
Inspiring elected officials and community leaders to become actively engaged in racial equity/racial reconciliation
Building a pro-active community of love, justice, and reconciliation
The Need to Create Nonviolent Tension
Admittedly, I have attended these gatherings and related events for months, but have not formally joined my voice with the many who have called upon our elected officials to act, to create a more equitable Burke County.
That is, until this meeting.
With a rainstorm thundering outside and a mass of emotions and convictions whirling inside my chest, I took to the podium to add my name to the ever-growing record of Burke residents eager for change and progress.
I had prior notes prepared but decided to abandon them during the BCfR gathering at Divinity Donuts, which immediately preceded tonight’s Commissioners’ Meeting.
Roughly 40-50 people congregated in the former-Episcopal-church-turned-bakery where we met to read and discuss Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Various people expressed a blend of sadness, guilt, hope, bewilderment, and outrage at the lack of racial progress in the half-century since that document was penned.
Yet, so much of the spirit shared among us was that of love, and, naturally, reconciliation, as we worked through our own reactions to unaddressed racism in our community and ideated over the most effective methods for bringing about meaningful social change.
Reverend King’s words layout a clear blueprint for social action.
I’m not entirely sure what motivated me to set aside my original notes for something more from the heart, so to speak, but I believe it was the refrain I heard in that perhaps no-less-set-apart space that inspired me: bringing about justice and healing in our Appalachian community involves encircling others in love, not casting out or shaming them.
I wondered if my original notes would be too attacking or condemnatory, thus inviting the Board of Commissioners (and, likely, others in our community who view the Confederate monument differently) to become defensive and recalcitrant.
So, when I entered the Burke County Services Building, I knew my position had to be one of cooperation and, well, reconciliation. These were not my enemies, but potential allies in the efforts to heal our community and move forward.
These were men who are committed to serving and making our community better. And, despite our disagreement surrounding fundamental issues, I believe they are still men of character, doing the best they can.
This isn’t to say that what I shared was no longer intended to create discomfort. I’m confident it did.
But as I walked from my seat to the podium, I hoped a more gracious posture would help me generate the kind of “constructive, nonviolent tension” the Reverend King so eloquently declares is necessary to move us from “an obnoxious negative peace” toward a “substantive and positive peace in which all” members of our community “respect the dignity and worth of human personality.”
Whether this left an impact or not, is yet to be seen. But I know at least one heart was softened that night.
A Plea to ‘White Moderates’
In the video below, you can listen to the words I shared with the Burke County Commissioners (followed by a transcript).
It’s a pleasure to be in front of so many familiar faces and friends. And I appreciate the Board for your time, your service and dedication to our community.
I’m actually here as someone who’s involved with Burke Coalition for Reconciliation, a name you should all be familiar with by now. And those of you who don’t know, we are working regularly, meeting regularly, to help heal the racial divisions and continual injustices that persist in our community, and that includes a white supremacist symbol in Downtown Morganton, which is the Confederate monument.
Through the past few years there have been many people who have come and spoken here. There’s not much more I can add to their leadership and heart for justice.
Tonight, we had some 40 or 50 of us meeting to read and talk about the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which I recommend each of you read, if you haven’t already.
There’s just one piece of that that I want to share with you.
There’s a point [in this] letter, Reverend King is bemoaning the obstacles to justice. And he says he almost agrees that the conclusion is: it is not the KKK, it is not the outward white supremacists who are the greatest obstacle to justice. It is the “white moderates,” as he says.
That is those of us who accept the status quo, who maybe are not affected by the injustices, who don’t have to see a statue telling them they are less.
So, I hope you will continue to take this into your hearts, and hope that you will become the leaders we need you to be, to help create a more equitable county.
Thank you.