Folks,

On Tuesday, I was joined by a bipartisan group of senators to once again read Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

I wanted to share some of my reflections on Dr. King’s powerful words, and what they mean for us all moving forward. For a shorter version, I had the chance to record a few thoughts on video, and I hope you’ll watch it and share:>>[[link removed]]
When we think of Dr. King, we usually see him on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, eloquently and passionately describing his dream for America, or behind a pulpit in Memphis, urging his audience to press forward, not to be discouraged in their quest for civil and equal rights.

It was frankly somewhat astounding to hear his thoughts and picture him in a small dirty jail cell writing in longhand on napkins and scraps of paper and newspaper to a group of ministers that were not hateful as much as they were questioning the need for action at that particular moment in 1963.

There are some who would say that to share my thoughts on our situation today, I need to move beyond a letter written in 1963, beyond that call for action so long ago – and certainly it is true that there are more contemporary voices and writings that explain how we should see our times.

But I believe we are at a similar moment today, in this time, in this place, and that Dr. King’s words are as contemporary as they are powerful.

In 1963, Alabama had become the focal point of the racism and division and hatred that existed throughout our nation. Bombings and fires in Black neighborhoods were commonplace, suspects never apprehended. A governor promising segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. Bull Connor shocked the nation when he unleashed vicious police dogs and firehoses on innocent children engaged in a peaceful protest, and later that year a church bombing killed four girls simply because of the color of their skin. The question on the day that Dr. King was arrested, why now?

From a jail cell in Birmingham in 1963, Dr. King told us that action in that moment was critical so that issues of racism and inequality throughout the land would no longer be ignored. Yet here we are 57 years later, and his words are still as timely. Action in this moment is critical so that the issues of systemic racism and inequality can finally be erased.

The last few months have made the truths of being Black in America clear to all. We have watched somewhat helplessly as a pandemic continues to kill Black people at a rate of almost two and half times that of other Americans. Not from a mutation of the virus but from an underfunded system that too often deprived Black Americans care for diabetes, heart disease and other health issues that are now described as pre-existing conditions.

We have watched an economic toll as Black- owned businesses failed at twice the rate of others and unemployment for Black Americans rose faster and will stay higher than those in the rest of America.

Of course, through this pandemic we have also seen the heroes. Black workers delivering packages, stocking grocery stores, serving on the frontlines in hospitals and as first responders. But the economic reality of being Black in America remains a sin of our nation.

The image of George Floyd on the ground is an image of a society and a culture that keeps a knee on the neck of Black Americans through systemic discrimination. George Floyd’s cries of “I can’t breathe” were not just the cries of an innocent man crying for his life but the cries of so many of our fellow Americans who are choked by a health care system that denies them access to quality health care. In Dr. King’s words, they are "smothered in airtight cage of poverty," who cannot breath the fresh air of affordable housing, education and economic opportunities, or who simply who have to hold their own breath when they themselves or their sons and their daughters venture away from their home fearing a police encounter that will take their life.

Maybe even more so than the dogs or fire hoses in Birmingham or the beatings on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the video of George Floyd’s last moments represented a confluence of events that showed our nation an image of itself that it could no longer bear.

I truly believe that the soul of America has come to the streets of America looking for a way for all of her people to live in a more just society. We’ve come to understand more than at any time in the history of our country that what affects one directly, affects all indirectly. This moment requires more than introspection on our part.

We cannot let this moment pass. We need to make a dramatic change in the nature and character of our institutions towards a more just government and society. Which brings me back to Dr. King’s words.

In his final book, “Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community,” Dr. King wrote that America is quick to welcome change in times of crisis but often loses steam. Laws are passed in a crisis mood after Birmingham or Selma but we too often stop there and the moment is lost.

I will tell you as a son of the South, the Deep South, that we should not lose this moment. We have been at the center of this divide for too long and we can be at the center of healing it – and leading the nation to a more just society.

Since our country’s inception we have said the words, "all are created equal." We have pledged that we are a nation with justice for all. All, not for some. All. But you know as well as I do, we know that we have never lived up to that ideal. We all know it. We will not be a country where we are all truly equal and where justice is for all until we can all say the words Black Lives Matter and mean it.

We have to mean it now. All of us must reject the voices of hatred and intolerance and division. All of us must embrace taking action to root out injustice and to seek justice and opportunity for all. The road to racial justice in America has taken far too long but it is a path that we must walk together.

It’s time to join together, America.

– Doug Jones

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