PRESENTED BY IRA A. LIPMAN
NATIONAL CHAIRMAN NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS

TO THE TWENTY-E1GHTH ANNUAL NATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AWARD DINNER OF THE ARKANSAS COUNCIL OF THE N.C.C.J. GRAND BALLROOM EXCELSIOR HOTEL LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

APRIL 30, 1991

IT IS A PLEASURE TO BE ASKED TO SPEAK THIS EVENING, AND TO BE BACK HERE IN THE CITY OF MY YOUTH.

WHAT MEMORIES THIS PLACE HOLDS. AND SEEING DAISY BATES IN THE AUDIENCE THIS EVENING BRINGS BACK ONE PARTICULARLY POIGNANT MEMORY-OF A POINT IN TIME WHEN THIS COMMUNITY FOUND ITSELF THRUST TO THE FOREFRONT OF THE NATION’S CONSCIENCE…FOUND ITSELF TEETERING ON THE EDGE OF BLESSING AND CATASTROPHE …UNCERTAIN OF WHICH WAY IT WOULD FALL.

THIRTY-FOUR YEARS AGO, WE IN THIS CITY HAPPENED TO LIVE THROUGH A MOMENTOUS CLIMAX OF AN HISTORICAL PROCESS…WHEN A LONG- GERMINATING IDEA EMERGED INTO ACTUALITY…VVHEN THE BATTLEMENTS OF SEGREGATION HAD BEEN BREACHED BY THE FORCES OF EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY…WHEN WE CAME FACE TO FACE WITH THE VAST ALTERNATIVES OF GOOD OR EVIL …OF BITTER TERROR OR UNLIMITED HOPE.

THIRTY-FOUR YEARS AGO, WE STOOD ON THE STEPS OF CENTRAL HIGH, PROCLAIMING TO OUR CITY, OUR PRESIDENT, AND OUR NATION THAT “WE OBEY THE LAW OF THE LAND.” IN SO DOING, WE ALSO FOUND OUR PEACE IMPERILED, OUR LIVES THREATENED.

BUT WE STOOD TOGETHER THAT DAY, KNOWING THAT WITHIN THOSE FATEFUL EVENTS LAY NOTHING LESS THAN THE BEGINNING OF THE PROMISE WITHHELD FOR SO LONG TO EVERY PERSON A CHANCE TO EVERY PERSON, REGARDLESS OF HIS OR HER BIRTH, A SHINING OPPORTUNITY…TO EVERY PERSON A RIGHT TO LIVE AND WORK AND TO BECOME WHATEVER THEIR HUMANITY AND THEIR VISION COULD COMBINE TO MAKE OF THEMSELVES.

THIRTY-FOUR YEARS LATER, IT IS HEARTENING TO SEE GROUPS LIKE “ACCEPT NO BOUNDARIES” STILL STANDING UP, STRONG AND PROUD, FOR THE PROMISE OF FREEDOM AND EQUALITY THAT IS THE BIRTHRIGHT OF ALL AMERICANS.

AND YET, AT THE SAME TIME, IT IS DISHEARTENING TO KNOW THE NEED FOR SUCH GROUPS STILL EXISTS. BECAUSE, IN THOSE DAYS LONG AGO, WE THOUGHT THE FINAL PAGES OF PREJUDICE AND BIGOTRY IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA WERE BEING WRITTEN. TODAY, AMAZED AND OUTRAGED, WE STILL CONFRONT THE VIOLENT TRAIL OF INTOLERANCE IN OUR WORLD. WE STILL SHUDDER AT THE SIGHT OF PEOPLE PERSECUTED, MAIMED, IMPRISONED AND KILLED FOR NO OTHER SIN THAN HAVING THE BLOOD OF THEIR MOTHERS AND FATHERS.

AND OUT OF OUR SORROW AND DISTRESS A QUESTION FULL OF IMPORT CRIES FOR AN ANSWER: CAN WE EVER BRING ORDER OUT OF THIS CHAOS OF CRUELTY AND INJUSTICE? CAN WE MEET CONDITIONS WITH INTELLIGENCE. . . AND MEET PEOPLE WITH LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING? CAN WE BE WISE ENOUGH AND GOOD ENOUGH TO RESPECT ONE ANOTHER’S DIFFERENCES OF OPINION AND BELIEF, TO RESPECT ONE ANOTHER’S DIFFERENCES OF CULTURAL ASPIRATIONS? CAN AMERICA TRULY BECOME A PLACE WHERE REASON AND HARMONY PREVAIL, WELDING US TOGETHER INTO THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD-NOT POWERFUL BY THE SWORD, BUT SPIRITUALLY POWERFUL, BY OUR HAVING ATTAINED KNOWLEDGE, SYMPATHY, AND TOLERANCE FOR THE PEOPLE LIVING IN THE SAME COMMUNITY AS US, AND FOR ALL PEOPLE LIVING IN THIS COUNTRY?

CAN THIS NATION BE THE OPEN SHIP OF FREEDOM IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE, OR HAS IT BECOME A CLOSED RAFT DRIFTING ON THE SEA, ITS OCCUPANTS HEATEDLY DEBATING WHO MERITS A PLACE IN THE OVERCROWDED VESSEL?

THE GREAT AMERICAN RAFT DEBATE.

MANY OF YOU MAY HAVE HEARD THE DEBATE BEFORE. TYPICALLY, IT GOES LIKE THIS: A SHIP SINKS IN THE OCEAN. FIVE PASSENGERS SURVIVE. BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE LIFE RAFT, AND ROOM FOR ONLY FOUR PEOPLE. EACH SURVIVOR-A MINISTER, A PHILOSOPHER, AN ARTIST, AN ENGINEER AND AN ECONOMIST-PLEADS THEIR CASE FOR WINNING A PLACE ON THE RAFT.

WHO SHALL LIVE, AND WHO SHALL BE DECLARED EXPENDABLE? WHO SHALL BE SAVED, AND WHO SHALL BE LOST TO THE RAGING SEA?

IT’S A PROVOCATIVE QUESTION, AND ONE THAT FORCES US TO DEFINE OUR NOTIONS OF COMMUNITY, OF INDIVIDUAL WORTH AND CULTURAL VALUE, OF WHO CONTRIBUTES TO, AND OF WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD SOCIETY.

BUT LET US ADD TO THE MIX OF SURVIVORS ON THAT CROWDED RAFT A POOR BLACK YOUTH, OR A HISPANIC, OR AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT, OR AN ILLITERATE ADULT, OR A HOMELESS PERSON. THEN LET US ASK OF EACH OTHER, WHO SHALL STAY, AND WHO SHALL BE CAST OUT?

INVARIABLY, THE ANSWERS WE NOW RECEIVE REFLECT AN ALL TOO REAL AND ALL TOO FRIGHTENING TREND IN THIS NATION …THE GROWING POLITICS OF EXCLUSION.

A POLITICS OF EXCLUSION? IN THE UNITED STATES? HERE IN THE LAND THAT HAS BOLDLY ENSCRIBED ON ITS PORTAL, “GIVE ME YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR, YOUR HUDDLED MASSES YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE”? HERE IN THE MOST PRODUCTIVE AND ABUNDANT NATION IN ALL OF HISTORY, INHABITED BY A PEOPLE OF UNMATCHED SKILL AND ENERGY?

YES, HERE IN AMERICA. IN SPITE OF ITS ENORMOUS TRIUMPHS, THIS PEERLESS SOCIETY SOMEHOW IS NOT LEADING TO THE ENLARGEMENT OR ENRICHMENT OF HUMAN LIFE. INVENTORS STILL CREATE, FACTORIES STILL PRODUCE, TECHNOLOGY STILL ADVANCES, AND YET FOR MANY, LIFE NOW SEEMS EMPTIER AND HARDER AND LESS PROMISING.

WHAT ONCE WAS A VISION OF AMERICA AS A LAND OF RISING EXPECTATIONS IS NOW GIVING WAY TO A DIRE PORTRAIT OF A COUNTRY OF RISING LIMITATIONS, WITH LIMITED OPPORTUNITIES… LIMITED RESOURCES… LIMITED MARKETS.

WHAT ONCE WAS A BELIEF THAT AMERICA WAS THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL IS NOW GIVING WAY TO A BELIEF THAT WE CAN ONLY KEEP WHAT WE HAVE BY DENYING IT TO OTHERS. ONCE NATIVE IMPULSES TOWARD JUSTICE FOR THE UNFORTUNATE, THE POOR AND OPPRESSED ARE SWIFTLY SUCCUMBING TO THE BASER DESIRES OF SELF-INTEREST. DESPERATELY, PEOPLE ARE CLINGING TO THEIR OWN SMALL PIECE OF THE RAFT.

INDEED, THESE ARE ANXIOUS TIMES. AND WHEN PEOPLE ARE WROUGHT UP…WHEN PEOPLE ARE PLAGUED BY UNCERTAINTIES …WHEN PEOPLE ARE MADE IRRATIONAL BY FEARS OF THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE, THEY LOOK FOR VICTIMS. THEY GO OUT, CONSCIOUSLY OR UNCONSCIOUSLY, IN SEARCH OF PEOPLE TO BLAME…PEOPLE THEY CAN EASILY IDENTIFY BECAUSE THEY SEE THEM ALL GOING TO A DIFFERENT CHURCH, OR BECAUSE THEY SEE A DIFFERENT SHADE IN THEIR COLOR, OR BECAUSE THEY SEE IN THEM A CULTURAL TRADITION DIFFERENT FROM THEIR OWN.

AND BECAUSE OF THESE DIFFERENCES, THEY ARE SUSPECTED OF NOT SHARING THE SAME CONCERNS AS THE REST OF THE COMMUNITY. BECAUSE OF THESE Dill ERENCES, THEY ARE SUSPECTED OF SOMEHOW WEAKENING THE EFFORT OF THE COMMUNITY TO EASE ITS ANXIETIES. BECAUSE OF THESE DIFFERENCES, THEY ARE ULTIMATELY SUSPECTED OF BEING THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE COMMUNITY’S ILLS.

THIS BITTER FIGHT OF INTEREST AGAINST INTEREST…THIS VIOLENT CLASH OF GROUP AGAINST GROUP IN THE TENSION OF LIMITED EXPECTATIONS…IT HAS BECOME AN ALL TOO FAMILIAR, ALL TOO VICIOUS CYCLE OF MODERN LIFE. AND REPEATEDLY THESE STRUGGLES RETURN TO US THE NOTION OF THE RAFT ON THE OCEAN, ITS OCCUPANTS PUSHING AND SHOVING AND PLEADING FOR SPACE, UNTIL, FINALLY, THEY TURN TO ONE AMONG THEM AND SAY, “IF YOU GET OUT, THERE WILL BE MORE ROOM FOR US.”

AND WHO AMONG THIS DRIFTING SOCIETY IS DECLARED EXPENDABLE?

IS THERE ROOM FOR THE HOMELESS, ALREADY BEREFT OF THE COMFORTS OF WARMTH, OF SHELTER, OF SECURITY? THE URBAN, POOR, PREDOMINANTLY BLACK, INCREASINGLY HISPANIC, CHRONICALLY UNEMPLOYED, BARELY EDUCATED, DAILY FORCED TO RUN A GAUNTLET OF GANGS AND DRUG DEALERS IN CITIES GROWN MORE PAINFUL AND MORE DANGEROUS? THE NEWLY IMMIGRATED, DESIRING TO ACHIEVE BUT LACKING THE SKILLS NEEDED TO CONTEND WITH AN INCREASINGLY COMPLEX, TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY?

THE GREAT AMERICAN RAFT DEBATE. WHO IS EXPENDABLE? IT MAY BE AN INSIGHTFUL EXERCISE IN ETHICAL JUDGMENT. BUT NEVER SHOULD IT BE A MODEL FOR AMERICAN SOCIAL POLICY.

BECAUSE, IN THEORY AND IN REALITY, AMERICAN SOCIETY IS NOT A RAFT. AND THE RIGHTS OF EVERY PERSON TO SHARE EQUALLY IN THAT SOCIETY-TO EXTEND ALL THE POWERS OF THEIR HUMANITY TO THE LIMITS OF POSSIBILITY-IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE DEBATED…OR DENIED.

IT IS NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE. IT IS NOT AN ECONOMIC ISSUE. IT IS A MORAL ISSUE. BUT IN TREACHEROUS TIMES SUCH AS THESE, MORAL APATHY CAN ONLY LEAD TO SOCIAL CATASTROPHE.

AND A FUTURE IN WHICH NO ONE IS EXCLUDED BECAUSE OF THEIR RELIGION, OR THEIR RACE, OR THEIR GENDER, OR THEIR PLACE OF BIRTH, WILL NEVER BELONG TO THOSE WHO DO NOTHING BUT CLING DESPERATELY TO THEIR OWN SMALL PIECE OF THE PRESENT. IT WILL GO ONLY TO THOSE WHO CAN BREAK FREE FROM THE SHACKLES OF LIMITED EXPECTATIONS, WHO CAN, TOGETHER AND UNAFRAID, SET THIS NATION ON A POWERFUL NEW COURSE… WHO CAN TAKE EACH MOMENT OF CRISIS, AND MAKE IT A MOMENT OF CREATION …WHO CAN LEAD THIS COUNTRY ON A NEW AMERICAN JOURNEY, NOT ACROSS A CONTINENT, NOT OUT TO A DISTANT STAR, BUT INWARD, TOWARD THE MOST POWERFUL ASPIRATIONS OF THE HUMAN HEART-TOWARD JUSTICE, TOWARD AMITY, TOWARD UNDERSTANDING AND COOPERATION, TOWARD THE CREATION OF A TRUE COMMUNITY THAT INCLUDES ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD.

IN THE WORDS OF THE POET MARGARET WALKER, “FOR MY PEOPLE STANDING STARING TRYING TO FASHION A BETTER WAY FROM CONFUSION, FROM HYPOCRISY AND MISUNDERSTANDING, TRYING TO FASHION A WORLD THAT WILL HOLD ALL THE PEOPLE, ALL THE FACES, ALL THE ADAMS AND EVES AND THEIR COUNTLESS GENERATIONS, LET A NEW EARTH RISE. LET ANOTHER WORLD BE BORN. LET A BLOODY PEACE BE WRITTEN IN THE SKY. LET A SECOND GENERATION FULL OF COURAGE ISSUE FORTH; LET A PEOPLE LOVING FREEDOM COME TO GROWTH. LET A BEAUTY FULL OF HEALING AND A STRENGTH OF FINAL CLENCHING BE THE PULSING IN OUR SPIRITS AND OUR BLOOD:’