Light One Candle

During the 50's and 60's, the Christopher Movement had a slogan:  It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.

As more and more NFL players "take the knee" during the National Anthem to protest police brutality and racism in America, I have been thinking about the Christophers.  Are the NFL players lighting a candle by their protests?  If they are, I'm not sure the right people are hearing their voices.  In the meantime, many fans are turned off by the protests, seeing the action more as disrespect for the flag rather than anything else.  Will their actions change racism in America or police brutality in the hearts of those who practice it?

When Nelson Mandala and the people living in apartheid South Africa determined to react against institutional injustice, they did not appeal directly to politicians or to those in power.  Rather, people of faith began to pray together, and as a sign of their hope that one day the evil of apartheid would be overcome, they lit candles and placed them in their windows so that their neighbors, the government, and the whole world would see their belief and hope (Ron Rolheiser, Dec. 3, 2004).

The government reacted by passing a law making it illegal to light a candle and put it in your window.  It was seen as a crime, as serious and owning and flaunting a gun.  As a result, the children had a joke:  "Our government is afraid of lit candles."  Morally shamed by its own people, the government eventually dismantled apartheid.

I believe that many people today are metaphorically lighting candles against racism, not by public protests, but by quiet lives of being good neighbors and helping those in need, regardless of race or color.  The aftermath of Harvey in Houston, like the aftermath of other natural disasters, has shown black and white reaching out to their neighbors.  Literally, we are all "in the same boat," and if we do not help one another, we will all drown together.

I would love to see a national day against racism when every person in America would light a candle and, for that one day and night, place it on their porch or in a window, as a public testimony that racism has no place in that house.  For the houses that remain in darkness, no protests would be necessary or effective, but the light that shines from their neighbors would be a testimony that racism has no place in America.