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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE For
more information: CUIC/Sidebar YOUNG
SEES APPEAL TO END RACISM A "MOVING OF MOUNTAINS" MEMPHIS
- When he considers his latest pilgrimage to Memphis, Andrew Young Jr.
relies first and foremost on Christian symbolism. "You
know, I really do always have mixed feelings about Memphis. For me, the
city is a sense and a place where we experience the crucifixion. And yet
it's also occasions like this that remind us of the continuing relevance
and power of the resurrection." The
present "occasion" is the formal signing of an appeal to end
institutional racism by the leaders of several major American Protestant
churches, who will be standing at the place where Young's friend and
fellow clergyman Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. Just before the
signing, Young will give the keynote address on the morning of January
21, 2002 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - from the balcony of the Lorraine
Motel which today is part of the National Civil Rights Museum. Young
recalls learning as a student member of the ecumenical movement that
changing institutions, even churches, is a long process. "It's
almost like a law of physics, you know? You can move a little pebble,
but to move these churches you have to move mountains." Young
looks back today over the 33 years since the assassination of King and
realizes that a process of reconciliation has been going on, and
continues. "It's
important to see that we're not celebrating something that just now is
happening. We're celebrating a coming together that probably even
started before Martin's death. I go back to the days of the marches in
Montgomery and Selma, which was the first ecumenical movement around
race. "Members
of the Jewish faith were there," he added. "I remember the
archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church participating. And there were a
number of Roman Catholic priests and nuns, and many Protestants. And the
trade unions were represented. That was a powerful gathering of more
than 1000 people who really first symbolized what we're celebrating this
January. Young
knows that many are dismayed that decades later, there still is work to
be done. "We're
certainly not saying that we've solved all the race problems. In fact
we're admitting that we still have many racial and cultural
misunderstandings. To the cynic, though, I would say this: the process
must go on and on. It occurs in our individual lives. Repentance and
reconciliation are not one-time events; they represent a continual
process and I believe they are validated by Christ's proclamations and
witness. "It's
true, you know, that we Christians are constantly repenting - but thank
God not usually of the same sin." Young
says he often recalls some "wonderful multi-racial
experiences" he had in the 1950s and '60s. "I'm still having
them in 2001, but of a different nature. They're with different people,
and it's occurring at a different depth. Yet the progress that I've seen
is and must be a continuous thing. My children and grandchildren still
have to go through the same process I went through." Young
said church denominational leaders seeking racial reconciliation
ultimately validates and encourages more progress for individuals. As he
considers the Martin Luther King Jr. Day events in Memphis, he returns
to the dichotomy he feels when he's in the city. "I
can never talk or think about those events without being both angry and
emotional. The interesting part is I think I'm over my anger now. I was
angry, you see, at Martin for leaving me. I wished we could have just
gone on together in the fight. "I'm
thankful, though, that I've been given the opportunity to continue the
struggle in his spirit. In 1968, I had no idea how we would make it. And
yet we've come a long, long way. And we're still coming." ### Editor's note: For more information on the January event in Memphis, contact David Brown of Conaway Brown, at 901-527-6163. |
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