Martin Luther King celebration

I have many difficulties with Baton Rouge’s official observance of Martin Luther King’s Birthday, the most significant of which has consistently been that it is not a truly interfaith service. People of many religious traditions are invited, but the tone is predominantly Christian and I feel that I am a guest at a Church service, rather than a participant in a civic event.

I go every year despite my reservations because I believe in the holiday and in the message of Dr. King (who incidentally would probably not approve of a service in his honor that marginalized people) and because I feel that it is important to represent the shul at the largest MLK celebration in the city. I would not want my absence read as a sign of disrespect for any community or for the cause for which Dr. King gave his life.

There were some moving moments in this year’s service. It was a privilege to hear former Senator John Edwards speak. He is an electrifying speaker in person and his message on the dire need to address poverty in this country was certainly appropriate for the day. His repeated question is a haunting one: Where is America?

One of the other speakers was a pastor from New Orleans whose parishoners are scattered and who himself is an evacuee. He spoke eloquently, but his most moving words were his simplest---“Thank you Baton Rouge”--which he spoke while choking on his tears.

As usual, the choir was spectacular. They blew the roof off with the spiritual “Oh Freedom”. The chorus is:

And before I’ll be a slave, I’ll be buried in my grave
And go home, to my Lord, and be free

Many people can sing such words. Dr. King lived them.