Woodson’s Passion: Justice for the Marginalized Race, Religion, Sexual Identity, National Origin

Race, Religion, Sexual Identity, National Origin

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…

I have a dream today”.

Martin Luther King, Jr., before the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 23, 1963

These words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have rung true in my spirit since my teenage years, igniting in me a passion that at times has felt more burdensome than empowering. Yet the genesis for this passion was not in my adolescence. I was born with the honor and the burden of being named after two civil rights pioneers: W.E.B. DuBois and Carter G. Woodson. So, whenever I heard my name, I was subconsciously reminded of the spirit and charge of these icons, and that reminder had to land somewhere and take shape. That shape was reflected in the language of Dr. King. While King’s language speaks specifically about race, the fire ignited in me burns in an effort to seek justice for all who are marginalized—those marginalized by race, national origin, gender, sexual identity and faith. 

Woodson D. Walker as college student at AM&N

My passion ripened into a full flame in my college years, as I was exposed to the writings and speeches of King, Gandhi, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael and others, and was massaged  through education, experience, and observation. Each writing and speech contributes to the frame work for the four-corner platform of legal, moral, pragmatic, and spiritual grounds from which I interface with the world, demanding that all Americans should enjoy the full benefits of their citizenship.

Legal

“It is in order that each one of you may have, through this free government which we have enjoyed, an open field, and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise, and intelligence; that you may all have equal privileges in the race of life with all its desirable human ...”

Abraham Lincoln, Summer of 1864

One of the results of the American Civil War was that the formerly enslaved and their descendants could fully enjoy the benefits of citizenship. The benefits were rights that were inscribed in our laws. 
 

“…No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States…”

Article XIV, Section 1, Amendment 14, United States Constitution, adopted July 9, 1868

In 1865, Article XIV, Amendment 14 to the United States Constitution gave African Americans the same legal rights and privileges that white men enjoyed. This is the law.  It is the responsibility of every citizen to hold this country to honor that law to the letter. As a full citizen of the United States, I insist on enjoying, and having all my fellow citizens enjoy, all the legal rights to which they are entitled under the 14^th Amendment.

Moral

“We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. […] For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. March 31, 1968, at the Washington National Cathedral,

Four days before he was to fall from an assassin’s bullet in Memphis, Tennessee

 

As a matter of moral precept, I believe all men and women, regardless of their

ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, or religious conviction, are inextricably linked. So, if I am to care for myself, I must care for you. This belief is supported by the scriptures, in which Jesus commands, in Matthew 22:37-39, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

Pragmatic

“If we are to heal our history and make this Nation whole, prosperity must know no Mason-Dixon Line and opportunity must know, no color line.”

President Lyndon Baines Johnson at a banquet at the Jung Hotel in New Orleans, October 1964 

While achieving this goal will not be easy, I share President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s aspiration for this country. He wanted the prosperity of America to be available to all citizens – of every stripe – in all regions of the country.

Spiritual

“We know instinctively that if we grow contemptuous of our fellows and consciously limit our intercourse to certain kinds of people whom we previously decided to respect, we not only tremendously circumscribe our range of life, but limit the scope of our ethics.”

Jane Addams, “Mother of Social Work”, first American Woman Awardee of the Nobel Peace Prize and co-founder of the ACLU

To echo and paraphrase Jane Addams, the dream of America will be delivered to all people when we stop seeing “others” and only see “brothers”. That will only happen when we take down the unnatural barriers of segregated neighborhoods, segregated schools, and segregated places of worship.

As a child, one of my greatest joys was being able to catch fish to contribute to the family meal.  We were a large, farm family in rural Arkansas. To be able to use the skills that I had to contribute to the feeding our family was something that I was very passionate about and from which I gained a great deal of pleasure and pride. Now, my family has expanded and includes all of you. I have acquired a different set of skills.  I hope to continue to use the legal, moral, pragmatic, and spiritual skills I have to help the marginalized realize their full citizenship and not be judged or live through a lens that is clouded by prejudice and oppression.

Rob previously expressed the importance to him of mastering a craft and now, Woodson has shared his passion for social justice.  Henry will share as well in the near future.  Your comments are always welcomed!