SENTINEL WATCH February 27, 2006 Issue

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

TOWARD THE UNDIVIDED HUMAN FAMILY

JEREMY CARPER

IN 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was tragically assassinated, and race riots erupted that summer in many parts of the United States. I was on an assignment in Kansas City, and at night I volunteered in an inner-city literacy program.

Late one hot night, I was driving home when my car was surrounded at an intersection by a crowd of black youths, all, I thought, hostile. They apparently felt I was an outsider, up to no good in their neighborhood. Suddenly, the racial divide seemed immense. In that tense atmosphere, I reached out in prayer to our one Father-Mother who created us all, and felt, for a fleeting instant, that divine Love ensured the inevitable brotherhood of man. I just knew then, quite suddenly, that I was surrounded by brothers.

I remember saying something funny to the guy who seemed to be the leader. (I certainly don't remember what I said, but I'm grateful it was funny and taken that way!) He laughed, and then he and I laughed together. He let me go on. We even waved goodbye to each other.