On this July 4th—I remember something that Jim Wallis of Sojourners wrote in his book, The Soul of Politics. He talked about the origin of the hymn of the Civil Rights movement, “We Shall Overcome.” He said it was originally an old hymn sung in churches. Then the labor movement took the song over. And then it became the theme for the civil rights movement. And we know the song because it’s been sung around the world.
The lyrics came out of the famous Highlander Center in the hills of Tennessee. There many labor organizers and civil rights workers got their training. One story about the lyrics was that one weekend a group of black young people had gathered on retreat at Highlander. They were just finishing up their week in the chapel singing when outside in the dark they looked out the windows and saw that the place was surrounded by members of the White Citizens’ Council. They had flaming torches and guns and sticks. They told the young people to come outside. They refused. The young blacks bolted the door and stayed inside and somebody turned off the lights. They sat there in the darkness. Outside there was beating on the door and screaming and cursing. The angry mob yelled for them to come outside.
Quietly somebody began to sing new words to a tune that they knew. They sang:
“We are not afraid, we are not afraid,
We are not afraid today.
O deep in my heart, I do believe
That we shall overcome some day.”
There in the darkness someone else began to sing and then another until the whole room was filled with “We are not afraid.” Outside, finally in frustration all those who had gathered with sticks, stones and torches turned and left because they did not know what to do. The angry voices had been silenced with a song. That night they wrote a new verse to an old song and it has been sung around the world.
Isn’t that our job as we celebrate another Fourth of July? It’s to take the old song and bring it up to date. To take this Constitution we’ve been hearing so much about...and take the Bill of Rights, which we haven’t talked about quite as much. Perhaps we should include the Pledge of Allegiance with those ringing words of the Pledge of Allegiance: “With liberty and justice for all.” Maybe we need to bring all these words we hold dear up to date.
Fear runs through this country like these bonfires we’ve been reading about. People everywhere are besieged by many things. Fear is underneath the ranting of the Tea Party. Underneath their rage they do feel that our federal budget it out of control. Those especially of Hispanic origin are fearful to day. The Muslims in this country are no better. The ugly immigration laws that state after state has passed have not helped the immigration problem. Many of those that serve us in Washington or Montgomery are afraid—else why would they not come together to tackle our serious problems. Millions are without work. These two wars—or is it three—rage on and on. Down the street, around the corner—travel a mile until you come to a not-so-nice neighborhood. People there are trying to make do on very little. They have no health care. They have lost so much.
We’re all in the same boat. It’s like we are all in this little house together. It doesn’t matter our color or origin. And we are afraid. Maybe, just maybe we need to write a new verse to an old song. Whatever it is—underneath it all I wish it could sing:
“We are not afraid, we are not afraid;
We are not afraid today.
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
That we shall overcome some day.”
Wasn’t it the fearless that first made this country great?
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