When we talk about loving our neighbors, it’s always easy to love folks who like us and love us back. And yet on the flip-side, it’s just as easy to make excuses as to why we don’t need to love those who have treated us wrong, or hurt us.
But imagine showing love to a group bent on bringing harm to you, your family and your friends — simply because of the color of your skin.
The civil rights movement in America can teach us a lot about loving our neighbor — and loving our enemies.
“The black freedom struggle is the best example of bringing together the quest for unarmed truth and unconditional love in the face of American Terrorism for 400 years. Instead of a Black al-Qaeda you get Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther.” – Dr Cornel West
Kevin Hendricks shares an even more personal look at how love defeated the KKK through one Rev. Wade Watts.
When Oklahoma State Sen. Gene Stipe and civil rights activist Wade Watts walked into a restaurant in the late 1950s, a waitress confronted them at the door and told Watts, an African American, that the restaurant did not serve Negroes.
With a smile, Watts replied, “I don’t eat Negroes. I just came to get some ham and eggs.”…
And as Kevin writes, that’s tame compared to Watts’ reactions to Clary as detailed in this video:
“I’ve seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up against our most bitter opponents and say: “We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you… But be assured that we’ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Hearing this story sure makes me getting angry about having my truck booted on Friday night seem real petty.
May we all have the power to love in the face of adversity. May we all have the courage to face our enemies with a smile and love. May we give sacrificial love to everyone within our sphere of influence. And may our lives exhibit the love that has changed our lives — so that it may change the lives of others as well.
