THE ELECTION IS OVER - NOW WHAT?

© Rev. Joy Atkinson 2008
Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation
November 9, 2008

It has been an eventful, historic and emotion-filled week. Whether or not you voted for Barack Obama, it is clear that with his election a new milestone has been achieved: an African American has finally ascended to the highest position in the land, giving people of color everywhere a new sense of hope that they, and their children, can aspire to accomplish great things themselves - that the road to their success has been made somewhat easier with his event.

Who among us - especially those of us who were alive when there were still segregated schools and bathrooms and restaurants, when prejudice and hatred for people of color abounded, when people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others who worked for civil rights and racial equality were violently silenced - who would have thought that the election of an African-American President could come to pass in our lifetimes? Even John McCain, in his very gracious concession speech, acknowledged that this particular election was a momentous occasion, a victory for racial equality, an event that has inspired a sense of hope in many people, especially young people, many of them voting for president for the first time.

Of course, here in California, as well as in Arkansas, Arizona and Florida, we also had a painful reminder that there is still widespread support for a form of discrimination - discrimination against same-sex couples who wish to adopt children, or who wish to legally marry. Marriage equality, as you know, is an issue that has been of high importance to Unitarian Universalists - we who have for decades supported the right of same-sex couples to marry. We UU clergy have been performing these marriages for a long time, and we have longed for the day when the marriages we have been officiating would finally be legally recognized. That day came in this state this past June, with the Supreme Court decision that stated clearly that there is no legal basis for this discrimination.

But the people, by a narrow margin, said otherwise last Tuesday. How sad! And how unfortunate that a simple majority can dictate who has rights and who doesn't. This has certainly put a serious damper on the joy that some of us have been feeling. There is more work to do, to undo the damage that has been done on this front - especially here in California, where this discrimination is now enshrined in our state constitution, a document created to protect peoples' civil rights. This election result is very deeply disappointing to many of us. It will be a hard and perhaps long fight to undo this damage.

To put a bit more of a positive spin on this situation: I believe that what really scares those who oppose same-sex marriage is that they can actually make out the handwriting on the wall. Just eight years ago, Proposition 22 was passed, by a much larger margin, 23%, writing into law the statement that marriage is understood to be only between a man and a woman. So, in just 8 years public sentiment has changed and the margin has narrowed considerably. I do believe that it is only a matter of time before the heart of the majority of people is won over. One day, people will look back on these times and marvel that so fundamental a right as the right to marry was denied same-sex couples, just as we now look back on unjust laws from decades ago that prevented some different races from intermarrying. Meanwhile, as the battle for marriage equality is fought in the courts by groups like Equality California and the American Civil Liberties Union, we can join marches and demonstrations and sign petitions and keep informed, working peacefully to change the hearts and minds of those who can be persuaded to stand on the side of love with us.

After such a long election process, I know that many of you have an array of feelings and thoughts in the aftermath of Tuesday's election, and I want to give you time to voice some of these feelings this morning. But first, I would like to share something beautiful and touching that took place the day after the election. That day, our own Unitarian Universalist Association sent bouquets of yellow roses to two families: to the family of the Rev. James Reeb, and to the family of Viola Liuzzo. Why would the UUA do this? Because both of these Unitarian Universalists gave their lives in the struggle for equality during the civil rights era. The yellow roses were an acknowledgement that these two brave people, in their fight for racial equality and justice, were among those who by their work and dedication helped to bring about the events that unfolded before our eyes this past week, when Barack Obama was elected so resoundingly.

The Rev. James Reeb, a 38-year old father of four, was in Selma Alabama in 1965, participating in the famous civil rights march with two other white Unitarian Universalist ministers, Clark Olsen and Orloff Miller. The three went to eat at a "Negro" restaurant in Selma. After leaving the restaurant, they were met by segregationists, who hit Reeb with a three-foot pipe on the head and beat the other two ministers. Olsen and Miller brought Reeb to a Birmingham Hospital, where he died two days later.

Here is the note Anne Reeb, James Reeb's widow, wrote to the UUA last week, upon receiving the roses:

Yes we can! Barack Obama...our new president elect. I am so proud of America... On behalf of my family we are so touched by the beautiful yellow roses. Please send our thanks and appreciation to the UUA for this meaningful gift...My family all cried tears of joy on election night... Our hearts are at peace. With love and admiration, Anne

Viola Liuzzo, a white 39-year-old mother of five, was shot and killed by white supremacists while driving with a back activist after her participation in the march from Selma to Montgomery.

Here are some excerpts from the note Sally Liuzzo, one of Viola's daughters, wrote to the UUA:

...we received the flowers... Whey were absolutely gorgeous and in a beautiful art glass vase. I have already decided to refill the vase with yellow roses on significant days to remember my mom...

My daughters who are 19, identical twins born on an anniversary of my mother's death...were able to vote for the very first time....to help elect Barack Obama. Sarah...one of the twins, lives in Chicago and was not yet registered to vote there. She flew home to Detroit just to be able to vote for Barack.

I cannot begin to explain the sense of pride I have right now for my mother and all the civil rights activists of that time. I feel like everything they have fought for, has now been realized. Black children will no longer feel like they are 'less than' and they will now know... They can be ANYTHING they set their minds out to be.

Here I am crying again.

Thank you from my sisters and I, for never forgetting our mother. The three of us were totally overcome with emotion. I feel like mom's sacrifice has now been worthwhile. Yes......she made a huge difference. I am so proud of America for getting past the limitations of race... Sally Liuzzo

It is heartening to hear that the families of two activists who made the ultimate sacrifice see this election as a sign of hope, and I am sure many of us share their optimism. But lest we think that the struggle for equality and racial justice is now complete, here are two sobering incidents from last week that I heard from my UU colleagues: on Staten Island, a young Liberian Muslim teen was attacked Friday night by four white men yelling "Obama." And in Maine the morning after the election, effigies of black men were found hung from telephone poles in the small towns of Tremont and Bar Harbor. Both incidents are being investigated as possible hate crimes. I'm afraid we may see more of this in the weeks to come, as people who still dwell in prejudice, hate, and fear push back.

The election is over, so now what do we need to do? Clearly, we need to continue the good work we have been engaged in all along, on behalf of people of all colors, lesbians and gays and transgender persons, people struggling to feed their families and provide for their health care, seniors watching their retirement savings disappear, children faced with deep cuts in public education, soldiers deployed in a war that we entered into on a false premise, and have been enmeshed in for over five years. The problems are all still there, and so are the opportunities to work on them, to stand against acts of hatred and bigotry wherever we see them, to resist the efforts of those who try to establish their particular religious beliefs as the law of the land, to continue to work for world peace, economic justice and equal rights.

I know that I am feeling more hopeful than I have been for some time, and I would now like to hear some of your thoughts. I end my remarks with the words of Irish poet Seamus Heaney, from his play, The Cure at Troy:

History says, Don't hope
on this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme.

Congregational conversation

Benediction

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up. --Anne Lamott

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