Activist Grace Lee Boggs

Yesterday I had the privilege of hearing Grace Lee Boggs speak on Community Organizing. She is 92 years old! She is still active and has a leadership training organization. This is a woman who knew Martin Luther King, and Malcom X. She scorns on injustices of our government. She said in order to change our worlds we must first change ourselves. Something in this resonates in me very much.

There are people who can move and motivate 100 people into action and then there are those people who have 100 friends. Just because you have a lot of friends, doesn't mean you have a lot of networks. You must have truth behind what you say. I wonder what the greats of the civil rights movement would say today about our progress on all issues of injustice. What would they say to motivate us? What would they say in response to this war? Where have the truth sayers gone to? Who are they in this day? Why have activist gone into hiding? If I believe these things to be true then why don't I change myself to relfect my questions? How could I, a social worker in training be a truth sayer, in my world, at my time in this age? Who would listen? The question is do I live my truth? Am I content to live life passively? Or do I see a need to make changes in my own life? I must first change myself to move others to social action. Ms. Boggs in a sense told us not to be a hypocrite. It is a nice to be called out on social issues.

My own truth: I'm a lot of talk and not a lot of action about social issues. Homelessness, foster kids, prisoner reentry, LGBT issues, poverty, blight, etc, the list goes. I need to make sure that I as a lover of Jesus am persuing his ideas of what social justice looks like. I must first act, move, speak, do--to encourage others to do the same.

Lord help me to be the anti-racist that you were. Help me to be the servant of the opressed and down hearted. Help me to challenge those who make laws and stick to them without a thought of love and hope for those who cannot help themselves. Jesus make change happen in me. Help me to live the love your Word describes. Thank you for Grace Lee Boggs. Thank you for Martin Luther King. Help me be a truth sayer in my own community.