More than 50 years after his first visit to campus, social activist and scholar Vincent Harding returned to 91短视频 on Feb. 26 and 27, where he urged packed audiences to engage fully in the struggle to build a real participatory democracy based on justice, equality, sustainability and spiritual fulfillment, rather than on militarism, materialism and racism 鈥� or indeed on any form of discrimination.
Harding and his late wife, Rosemarie, were close friends and colleagues of Martin Luther King Jr., during an era when the Hardings were active members of a Mennonite church.
鈥淚 come as one who does not like to lecture or preach,鈥� said Harding, during his remarks in chapel on the morning of Feb. 26. Characterizing his visit as a dialogue with everyone else on campus, he invited others鈥� feedback and thoughts throughout the next two days. 鈥淟oving dialogue is part of what keeps me going and keeps us going.鈥�
That evening, Harding continued that conversation as part of the Albert N. Keim History Lecture series, when he spoke about America as an idea that hasn鈥檛 yet been fully realized.
鈥淚 am absolutely obsessed with the question of how you build a deep democracy in this country,鈥� said Harding, who played an active leadership role during the Civil Rights movement and continues to work toward a more just, participatory society through his nonprofit organization, . He lives in Denver, Colo., where he was a professor of religion and social transformation at the Iliff School of Theology from 1981 until his retirement in 2004.
Helped MLK to articulate stance against Vietnam War
In the 鈥�60s, Harding worked closely with King and other Civil Rights leaders, playing important behind-the-scenes roles in the movements to challenge segregation in Albany, Ga., and Birmingham, Ala. Harding also drafted King鈥檚 famous and highly controversial speech, delivered in New York City in on April 4, 1967, exactly one year to the day before King鈥檚 assassination.
In it King called for the U.S. to “undergo a radical revolution of values,” adding: “When machines and computers, profit and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” King also explicitly linked capitalistic socio-economic practices to the absence of “fairness and justice” both at home and abroad. This passage 鈥� evocative of current questions regarding the U.S.’s role in Iraq and Afghanistan 鈥� shows the strong stance and unequivocal language in that Harding/King speech:
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: “This is not just.” It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: “This is not just.” The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
Harding is the author or co-author of five books, including Martin Luther King 鈥� The Inconvenient Hero. In the 2009 edition of his book Hope and History, Harding called attention to 鈥渢he continuing frontiers for justice, for community, for the redemption of the soul of our nation.鈥�
Struggle still necessary for a more just, humane society
He wrote of the continued swamp of materialism, sexism, homophobia, and poverty, along with 鈥渁ntidemocratic, bullying military interventions of our government.鈥� In order to 鈥渒eep going toward a more just and humane society鈥� we (the people) have to accept that there will be personal, fiscal and psychic costs. Yet by acting out of 鈥� and building upon 鈥� love, we will 鈥渞eceive the power to carry on the struggle.鈥�
In Hope and History, Harding said he dreamed of a community-based 鈥渞ainbow wedge,鈥� which would be 鈥渁 force for the creation of new political, cultural, ecological, and economic realities.鈥�
At 91短视频, Harding explained that being 鈥渨e, the people鈥� means being active as citizens because, in the absence of this, our leaders will always be happy to step in and take things in self-serving directions.
In December 2013, Harding married another longtime peace and justice activist, Aljosie Aldrich Harding, who accompanied him on the visit to 91短视频. During classes and other discussion, Aljosie encouraged students to live their lives being primarily for, rather that against, things in order to promote change.
The Hardings鈥� 91短视频 itinerary also included visiting an undergraduate African-American history class, a seminary class, speaking at a seminary chapel, and informal lunchtime conversations with students and faculty.
Harding’s ties with the Mennonite Church
Vincent Harding鈥檚 long association with the Mennonite Church began in the late 鈥�50s, when he was studying for his doctorate at the University of Chicago and began attending Woodlawn Mennonite Church on the city鈥檚 south side. In 1958, five Mennonites 鈥� Harding, another African American man, and three white men 鈥� decided to travel through the South 鈥渢o manifest and test our faith in Christian brotherhood.鈥� Harding鈥檚 decade-long association with King began on this trip, when King welcomed the five men into his home, though he was in bed recovering from a stab wound.
In his book Martin Luther King 鈥� The Inconvenient Hero, Harding wrote:
Before we left, he [King] turned to Ed Riddick, the other African-American traveler, and to me, and he said, very seriously, “You Mennonites understand what we’re trying to do in this nonviolent movement. You ought to come down from Chicago and help us.” I never forgot the invitation, or the reasoning behind it.
Harding and first wife Rosemarie moved to Atlanta, Ga., in 1961 to lead a new, interracial voluntary service unit support by , where they lived around the corner from Martin and Coretta King. (Rosemarie was the first African-American woman to graduate from 91短视频鈥檚 sister school, Goshen College; she died in 2004.)
The following year, the Hardings visited 91短视频 to talk about their involvement in the civil rights movement, and to challenge the broader Mennonite community to more active participation in the struggle for racial justice.
鈥淚t was easy for people scattered around [these] often-isolated Mennonite worlds to have only the weakest possible understanding of what was going on,鈥� recalled Harding during his recent visit.
On being insensitive to the sin of racial prejudice
When the Hardings arrived in Harrisonburg in May, 1962, they were troubled by the 91短视频 community鈥檚 lack of awareness about the extent of segregation in Harrisonburg itself and, as they later wrote in a report, 鈥渁 frightening moral insensitivity to the sin of racial prejudice and discrimination.鈥� The couple used the opportunity to challenge those on campus by presenting them with a series of questions, such as whether it was morally acceptable for Mennonite teachers to participate in segregated professional organizations, or whether 鈥淢ennonites should continue to take advantage of the false privilege of a pink skin by making use of facilities that are denied to their Negro brothers.鈥�
鈥淏efore we left Harrisonburg, we felt that there were many individuals 鈥� students and adults 鈥� who were beginning to struggle deeply with the implications of discipleship in their situation,鈥� the Hardings wrote later.聽Harding remained in contact with 91短视频 as it began changing, visiting in the late 鈥�70s at the invitation of Titus Bender (then a professor) and again in 1995 as part of 91短视频鈥檚 observation of .
Titus and Ann Bender became friends with Harding when they led a Mennonite voluntary service unit in Meridian, Mississippi, from 1958 to 1969. Titus says Harding pushed him personally, and 91短视频 collectively, to move forward in realizing that 鈥渘onviolence is not inaction鈥� and that 鈥渙ne can work for creative change without being violent.鈥� While the Hardings鈥� tough questions during their first visit caused some discomfort on campus at the time, the university鈥檚 eventual embrace of nonviolent social activism is reflected today by initiatives like the and the undergraduate major in .
Harding inspired restorative justice pioneer Howard聽 Zehr
Harding also was a major influence on , who is regarded internationally as one of the founders of the field of restorative justice. Today Zehr is co-director of CJP’s .
鈥淚 remember sitting at the dining room table with him as he patiently helped a na茂ve white boy understand racial injustice in this country,鈥� said Zehr, referring to several visits Harding made to his family鈥檚 home and church in Indiana. Zehr subsequently enrolled in Morehouse College in Atlanta (MLK’s alma mater) and became its first white graduate in 1966. Harding “was a major factor in developing my consciousness and concern about justice,鈥� Zehr said.
Reflecting on the recent visit, 91短视频 professor said that Harding challenged and inspired the university, as he has been doing since he first came to campus more than 50 years ago.
鈥淗e reminds us again and again that we are the people we are waiting for. We are the ones who can make change happen,鈥� Sawin said. 鈥淚t is in our talking together that we are at our most human, and this sacred conversation is what makes us whole and helps move us toward the world that is yet to be 鈥� the world we want for our children.鈥�
Choosing to identify with those who are oppressed
During the Feb. 26 evening event, Harding was asked how King, if still living, would assess our country鈥檚 progress toward the goals outlined in his famous 鈥淚 Have a Dream鈥� speech. Harding responded that King wasn鈥檛 expecting miracles. Simple solutions and quick fixes were never part of the plan. He recalled one of the most celebrated ideas King described in that speech, that someday his children would be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.
鈥淗ow do you get to know the content of a child鈥檚 character?鈥� asked Harding, pointing out that King鈥檚 vision was itself a plea for greater engagement. Building the beloved community, he said, isn鈥檛 limited to passing new laws that, in theory, advance racial equality. Building that community means creating stronger connections and developing relationships across the racial divides that persist in our country.
In his last public presentation at 91短视频, a Thursday morning chapel at the seminary, Harding focused on these words of Martin Luther King Jr.
I choose to identify with the underprivileged.
I choose to identify with the poor.
I choose to give my life for the hungry.
I choose to give my life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity.
I choose to live for and with those who find themselves seeing life as a long and desolate corridor with no exit sign.
This is the way I鈥檓 going.
If it means suffering a little bit, I鈥檓 going that way.
If it means sacrificing, I鈥檓 going that way.
If it means dying for them, I鈥檓 going that way, because
I heard a voice saying, 鈥楧o something for others.鈥�
All of Vincent Harding鈥檚 talks at 91短视频 on Feb. 26 and 27 can be accessed online:
鈥淟oved into Life: a personal testimony鈥�
鈥淢artin Luther King鈥檚 Choices and Ours鈥�
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