(These were the words shared at the NAACP Moral Monday Rally on May 4, 2015 at Marshall Park in Charlotte.)
B’tzelem elohim means, “In the image of God…”
B’tzelem elohim – In the image of God, we all were created.
Jewish sages teach that we were all created from one human being so that no person can say, “My ancestor is greater than yours.”
The sages say we were created “from the four corners of the earth – yellow clay and white sand, black loam and red soil — so that the earth can declare to no part of humanity that it does not belong here, that this soil is not its rightful home.”
B’tzelem elohim – in the image of God, we all were created.
This principle requires us to pursue equality, equity and justice
Slavery… We broke the chains of slavery and left Egypt.
Jim Crow… We shattered the laws supporting segregation and crossed through the sea.
But the Promised Land of equality, equity and justice remains elusive.
Black Lives Matter in Charlotte is not simply about police, power and the powerless. Black Lives Matter is about recognizing that all lives matter and sharing responsibility for lifting each other up.
Lilla Watson wrote: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
We are here as your Jewish brothers and sisters because our liberation is bound up with yours.
Fifty one years ago, civil rights leaders James Cheney, who was black, and Andrew Goodman, and Michael “Mickey” Schwerner who were Jewish, worked together in Mississippi on a “Freedom Summer” Campaign to register voters and set up Freedom Schools. All three were murdered.
Our Jewish mothers and fathers marched with you then and we are here to stand with you today.
Quality education is a critical key to equality.
At Shalom Park (8 miles south of here), the Jewish community offers 80 kids from schools struggling with over 90% poverty a six week summer camp grounded in literacy. We teach kids lifesaving skills as we teach them to swim. We teach kids life strategy as we teach them chess. We teach kids that the key to overcoming any barriers before them is education. This summer there are 19 such Freedom Schools in Charlotte with 1200 students. Although it is a large number, it is a fraction of the 78,000 low income children in our community who CMS says could benefit from summer learning. We need to do more.
Reach across lines of difference
Teach a child living in poverty to read
Give a teen from a low income home an internship
Give an African American young adult a job.
Support a Freedom School and volunteer in one of our CMS schools with high poverty.
And lastly, call, write, or visit your legislators and ask that we put our schools and our teachers first. For today they are just about last.
As a state, we are going in the wrong direction. According to an ABC News Report out of Raleigh this past September,[1] North Carolina ranked 51st in ten-year change in teacher salary; 48th in public school funding per student; 47th in median annual salary; 43rd in teachers’ wage disparity; and 40th in safest schools.
Here in Charlotte, in the 2001-2002 school year CMS, had 12 high poverty, high minority schools. Since the time that the Swann case was overturned and the court order on mandatory busing lifted, CMS now has 62 high poverty, high minority schools.
When public school education and our teachers are seriously underfunded and undervalued, it seems that not all children matter.
B’tzelem Elohim – in the image of God, we all were created.
Black Lives Matter in Charlotte is about using our power to create change.
Let us fight for educational quality.
Let us fight for educational justice.
B’tzelem elohim – in the image of God, all of us were created.
[1] September 29, 2014 – http://abc11.com/education/survey-calls-nc-the-worst-state-for-teachers/329440/)
