Arc of social justice

When I was a teenager in Georgia, Gov. Lester Maddox pretended to brandish an ax handle to keep Blacks out of his Atlanta eatery. Conservative whites ate it up. White supremacy was just the way things were.

I was raised conservative (white) Baptist. Maybe it was the presence of a radical Jesus from the Baptist part, or maybe I just came of age as a pro-civil rights liberal in college. I became a recovering racist and still am.

Black Lives Matter has cycled out of the “breaking news,” but still matters.

BLM’s roots reach to the movements of the 1960s. Black is Beautiful, Black Pride, Black Power and Black

Panthers refocused the movement. They celebrated Black identity, pride and power without asking the white power structure’s approval. MLK unstuck the needle. They moved it further — in spite of J. Edgar, Nixon and a racist Congress.

Today’s power structure is rooted in conservatism, including a tap root to white supremacy. That’s embarrassing for some, a matter of pride for others. BLM forces the issue.

BLM is a protest against racist policing but also a celebration of the beauty, brilliance, grace and power of non-whites in all shades. I believe and hope support by the NBA, NFL, the Arkansas Razorbacks and others signals an inflection point. Colin Kaepernick’s fist cracked a shell and let in light. Not all sunshine yet, never will be, but the future’s brighter.

Social justice may yet become an American value, maybe even an Arkansas value.

HOWELL MEDDERS

Fayetteville