Knock At Midnight | MLK
In his final Sunday sermon, Dr. King said: “We will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair the stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.” I continue to marvel at Dr. King. He experienced the worst of mankind’s behavior but never surrendered his belief in a better tomorrow.
For millennia we Jews have been a people of hope and moral action. We have been charged to believe in and create the world we want to be living in. Each of us is to be a Rodef Shalom, an ardent pursuer of peace and wholeness. As we move forward through these very sensitive times, let us embrace this responsibility in our homes, in our great city, and in our extraordinary nation that we hold so dear.
With Shalom,
Rabbi Mo Salth
And from Robert Battle | Alvin Ailey
As we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today, I think back to April 1968, when 37-year-old Alvin Ailey learned that the 39-year-old Dr. King had been assassinated. I think of what it must have felt like for Mr. Ailey to lose someone who was such a beacon for equality, humanity, and love—some of the same qualities that served as a foundation of his dance company.
That day, Mr. Ailey and his dancers were on tour, preparing to perform. Through tears, Mr. Ailey dedicated their performance to the civil rights leader. Personally shattered, a country in crisis, the Ailey dancers still danced. The parallel of our current state and the times in which Dr. King led a revolution and Mr. Ailey led a company is not lost on me. It actually is one of the north stars we as a company have been able to hold onto as we have navigated this past difficult year.
Today, we honor Dr. King’s legacy, one that is ever-present in America’s continued struggles and its newly won gains. We thank him for showing all of us how to live a life with conviction, integrity, and in service to others. We thank him for fighting for Black lives and the lives of the poor and marginalized. For its part, the Ailey organization will continue to work toward creating the type of world that Dr. King and Mr. Ailey believed was possible, a world of peace, creativity, and equality.
Robert Battle, Artistic Director
