Text and photos by Dan Efram
Middle Collegiate Church, 112 Second Ave., yesterday hosted “Redeem the Soul of America,” a special discussion honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s legacy with Civil Rights icon Ruby Sales.
Sales described her work with The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the critical role of women in the Movement, and gave the attentive audience context as to the foundations of racism and bigotry that have permeated American society.
“For black people, the streets and the fields have always been subversive sites,” Sales contextualizes. “It was the same during the Southern Freedom Movement. The streets that once upon a time where places in the South where black people should not be caught. We transformed them from dangerous places to liberating spaces.
“One of the things that the Movement literally did was to transform sites of terror, sites of oppression, into sites of liberation and sites of honor,” she said. "It was an honor to go to jail. It was an honor to be arrested on the streets of America.”
Though there were many enlightening moments, perhaps the most salient point was her description of a movement.
“A movement is dangerous, it’s not warm and fuzzy and cozy,” Sales said. “It doesn’t happen without a community to cover and guard you. It’s not an action of a few justice elites. It’s a community enterprise. You can’t be in a movement if you are afraid to die.”
The talk was led by Middle Collegiate Church’s Senior Minister Rev. Jacqui Lewis (above, left), who told of Sales’ direct impact on her life. Watch the full discussion here.
