The Civil Rights in World History

June 24th, 2013

Who inherits the Civil Rights movement and its lessons? Is it only for African Americans? only for minorities? only for Americans? Or is it the inheritance of the world. What is its meaning for millions around the world who seek freedoms, equitable relationships, free from fear, intimidation, violence etc? One gets a sense of the broader implications of the civil rights movement for our world when reading Eboo Patel’s book Sacred Ground. He tells the story of Muslims gathering in New York, in the wake of 9/11 and the confusion and turmoil it created for their community. While denouncing the hatred of Islamic extremism, some Muslims also called for a Muslim civil rights movement, just had taken place in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. The Rev. Jesse Jackson a participant in the Civil Rights movmet was a guest at that meeting. He surprised everyone by saying that there could be no Muslim civil rights movement in the United States. He reminded the audience that the civil rights movement was not about a specific community, but for all (see Eboo Patel, pp. 15 & 17). It was not just African-Americans who stood to gain, but the entire country; every American stood to gain. This renders more inclusive the story of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. After all did they not borrow the idea of non-violence from Gandhi, more than 7000 miles away. These interconnections and shared histories between civil rights movements from around the world (whether it be the Arab Spring movements, the Orange revolution, or the Occupy protests) make them part of a broader canvas of dissent by the growing numbers of the dispossessed on our planet. So they continue to be relevant today.
It is interesting to see how one’s perspective on an event changes as one begins to travel. As I flew from the United States to India with a 15 hour layover in Riyadh, I got more time to reflect on these issues. If indeed, the civil rights movement is now part of our shared human story, how do we tell this story to all. Should migrant workers in Riyadh know about the story of the civil rights and its value and meaning for us in the twenty first century? What about low caste sewage workers in Indian cities like Delhi and Mumbai? Why should they, if this story is not even fully acknowledged in the United States? What does the message of pluralism/reconciliation, equity, inclusion and non-violence, which are at the heart of the civil rights movement, have to say to the rest of the world?
The road ahead for those of us burdened with these questions seems unclear, difficult, and without guarantees. Never before in our planet’s history of human diversity and cross cultural living and communication have such questions become so pressing—demanding our full undivided attention. There is no complete resolution to these questions. There will be costs to pay—individually and collectively, I suppose. Learning to understand and live with others invariably calls for self-denial and extending grace to our neighbors. These, in turn, create their own psychic burdens. I realize that they are an integral part of any kind of diversity and inclusion work we choose to undertake. In the twenty first century, our planet urgently needs this message, and I am not sure if time is on our side.


Comments are closed.