Looking at the pictures of people protesting throughout the world – from LA to New York, Paris to Melbourne – the words from a song from Bette Midler called out to me: “From a distance we are instruments
Marching in a common band
Playing songs of hope
Playing songs of peace
They are the songs of every man.”
As an older African American Pentecostal minister remarked to me at the gathering at MLK Park on Sunday, smiling broadly behind his mask, “everyone is here, all the colors of the rainbow.” I asked him what he meant, and he told me that for the first time in his lifetime he felt people from around the world supporting him.
The first racial epithet on record comes in this week’s Torah portion, Be’Ha’alotcha, where Aaron and Miriam call Moses’ wife Tziporah the “K-Word.” No, not the one you may be thinking, but one that may have had resonance in the ancient world, namely a “Kushite.” Three thousand years ago, Kush was a powerful civilization located in Northern Africa just below Egypt. Tziporah, incidentally, was not a Kushite, but a Midianite, a smaller clan that lived in the Sinai Peninsula, however that fact hardly matters, for the insult seems less about heritage and more about skin color. God’s immediate reaction is to turn Miriam’s skin a snowy white, a color, no doubt, even more disparaged at the time than being black. While, the rabbis focus on the “lashon harah,” evil tongue, or gossip, element of the story, for us today it is the racism that cries out to be discussed. The message from God is clear no racial epithets would be allowed, period.
The story concludes with Moses having to be convinced to pray for his sister. Abused by his siblings, he must still pray for healing. “Ana El Na Refa Na La,” “Please God, Heal Her,” he cries out to God, and Miriam’s skin is restored to its original color. When given the chance to pray at MLK Park, it is this prayer that I offered. As others chanted with me, I felt Moses’ original intention for the words being carried out. From a distance, color no longer matters, we march as one through this great wilderness we call home.
I leave you with the words of the Bette Midler song:
“From a distance you look like my friend
Even though we are at war
From a distance I just cannot comprehend
What all this fightings for
From a distance there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
And it’s the hope of hopes
It’s the love of loves
It’s the heart of every man
It’s the hope of hopes
It’s the love of loves
This is the song for every man
God is watching us
God is watching us
God is watching us from a distance.”