Be the light.

Because “darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that,” Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached.

We must be the light to drive out the darkness of wars, mass shootings, domestic terrorism, violation of voting rights, violation of civil rights and threats to democracy, even in the United States.

Be the light by telling people that being safe from wars matters, people having access to food and health care matters, people having a country to call home matters, people’s dignity and worth matters, people having justice on their side matters.

In these times when humanity seems to have forgotten how to care, we must not stop caring about things that matter.

King also preached: “A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice.”

What mattered to King was not just his family, his friends, his church, his life. What mattered to King was also a more just society. This is why he spoke up even in the face of danger.

King spoke up despite Black churches being bombed, police canines and water cannons tearing Black flesh, police batons cracking Black heads, jails packed with civil rights activists. King spoke up despite cryptic phone calls made to his home.

Because many do not speak up, the hard-earned civil rights from sacrifice by King and others are being violated. Because many do not speak up, the United States continues to be involved in wars. Because many do not speak up, programs intended to increase diversity in historically white institutions are dismantled. Because many do not speak up, affirmative action is dead, DEI is dying and voting rights is on life support.

Why isn’t everyone screaming “enough” from the top of their lungs?

“Speaking out publicly is not how I am wired,” a white friend responded. “I fight injustice differently than you. I do it through my financial contributions to social justice organizations.”

I love my friend, but what a cop-out by someone whose skin tone offers more protection from backlash for speaking up.

“The ultimate tragedy,” King said, “is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by the good people.”

My friend’s silence, like the quintessential “white silence,” emanates from the belief that silence is power. True. Power to perpetuate injustice. Making private financial contributions may feel good, but “if you are good, yet silent, maybe you’re not really as good as you think,” King believed. 

This is why I must say to those who oppose affirmative action and DEI in higher education: Listen. To be white is to worry about getting a job after college, just like Black and Brown students. To be white is to fear failure, just like Black and Brown students. To be white is to become ill sometimes, just like Black and Brown students. To be white is to become anxious sometimes, just like Black and Brown students. To be white is to be sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, just like Black and Brown students.

I know this because I was a Black student at American white colleges.

If one believes all humans are created in the image of God, but if all they see from childhood is White, will they ever be capable of imagining God might also appear to us as Black and Brown people? The death of affirmative action, and the forthcoming death of DEI, rob white students of the chance to learn they are human, just like Black and Brown students.

To those who protest the teaching of the entire history of the United States, listen: We can’t become a more perfect union if we do not understand what our imperfections might be. Saying war is evil isn’t a lie. Saying slavery still impacts Black life isn’t a lie. Saying slavery was morally wrong isn’t a lie.

The Bible says that “the lamp of the body is the eye.” If the eye can’t see, “the whole body will be full of darkness.” If we do not deal with the dark side of our history, history shall reward us with nothing more than darkness.

The eye that sees it OK to fund endless global wars fails to see decimated bodies under the rubble. The eye that saw it fit to subjugate another fails to see the harm of a systemic structure that holds the descendants of the subjugated behind. The eye that saw it fit to kill Native and Indigenous peoples failed to see the roots of darkness even before Christopher Columbus learned to sail. To help the eye see is to “light a candle” and “put it on a candlestick” so “it giveth light unto all that are in the house,” according to the Bible.

Earth is our house. We must give light to all humans. We must speak up even if we become hated, despised, chastised, threatened, isolated. We must speak up even if the change we seek takes 400 years.

Silence is death. Speaking up is life.