The Metro guard told me he’d never seen anything like it in all his years working for DC’s Metro system, people chalking love, togetherness, inclusion messages just off the top of the escalator at the Foggy Bottom Metro stop, the place where the white nationalists will step when they get off the metro, and where they’ll begin their march to Lafayette Square across from the White House Sunday at 5:00.
We – people from various faith communities – gathered the night before at Western Ave. Presbyterian Church for a “Mindful Response” service. The unorthodox service focused on prayer and “centering,” a “mindfulness” approach that aimed to reduce if not eliminate feelings of anger, disgust and vengefulness generated by the white nationalists’ toxic messages of hate, racism and violence. The service would “provide the opportunity to walk the same path the white rights marchers will walk the next day, and instead offer messages of love and inclusion.”
We were told to start not with the self or with the “other” but to begin with the whole, all of us, toxic or not, part of the human family who were invited to the communion table. Very hard to do.
Following the service, we were each given a large, thick stick of chalk. We then walked the three blocks to the Foggy Bottom Metro station, always teeming with people because of its proximity to the Kennedy Center, restaurants, government buildings and George Washington University. Amidst the Saturday evening melee, we knelt and began to scrawl messages, to consecrate the ground on which the nationalists march would begin. Tourists stopped. We shared our chalk with strangers who, themselves, knelt to write. It was fun. Someone started singing. A minister asked for a prayer. One wrote this,”We are one family;” another this, “Love is stronger than hate;” and a girl of 11, this, ”We are all in this together…”
I worried that if things got ugly, we would compromise our faith while helping to feed the Trump narrative of separation, discord and violence – Trump’s oxygen.
I did not like the title, “Rally against Hate,” as this gives the nationalists the framing, i.e. “hate.” I would have rather seen a “for,” e.g. “A Rally for Reconciliation.”
It was sobering to know that the white nationalists intended to march to the very heart of our nation – Lafayette Square across from the White House.
But on second thought that’s not the heart: we are. Citizens are. That heart must show.
Just for a moment, that moment in time amidst a Saturday night melee, a collective plea, perhaps a cry, actually a joyous cry, kneeling, chalking messages, the metro guy shaking his head in disbelief, the Saturday night crowd stopped, if only for a few moments, by this sudden oasis of peace and affirmation.
Later that night it rained. I’m certain the messages are now washed away or obliterated by thousands of shuffling feet. So then the question: what are we going to do tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow?
Written by Jack Calhoun
Mr. Calhoun is an internationally renowned public speaker and frequent media guest, editorial contributor and author of three books. He is the founder and CEO of Hope Matters. For more than 20 years, Mr. Calhoun was the founding president of the National Crime Prevention Council, prior to which he served under President Carter as the Commissioner of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families.
Click on “Contact” to book Mr. Calhoun to speak at your next conference. All speaking topics are available at: www.HopeMatters.org/Speaker
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