The Value of Human Dignity
As a leader in the Newton Interfaith Clergy Association (NICA), I participated in a vigil held at Newton’s City Hall with the Mayor, Congressman Joe Kennedy III, and other clegy members and community leaders to raise our voice in the matter of immigration and the separation of families on our country’s southern border.
As I prepared to speak and reflected on this crisis of dignity we currently face in our country, I was reminded of the Imago Dei - the Image of God, and I wrote these thoughts to share at the vigil, and to share with you now. May it remind us to “do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly” (Micah 6:8).
All of mankind holds intrinsic worth because all of mankind is created in the Image of God. This worth is not limited by ethnicity, religion, age or gender. It’s not restricted by who you love. It’s not made accessible by ones’ legal or economic status. It is not bound by ones’ country of origin nor legislated by documentation. This worth is not associated with ones political affiliation nor should it ever be taken away by any human being.
As an African American man, born in Shelby, Mississippi, growing up in the challenging context of Chicago’s Southside, I have witnessed how brown and black faces, families and friends have often been treated as foes in this country — inside these borders. Borders, my ancestors neither sought after nor wanted — but borders they adopted and fought for nonetheless. Borders that little 2 year old Valeria longed for as she rested on the back of her father, Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez.
I am reminded of the backs I rest on — the backs of heroes who swam toward life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; desperately longing for the equality that was promised to them; searching for some reminder or a glimpse of that which was suppose to be a “self evident-truth” — that, here, ALL people are created equal. I rest on the back of Lucendia Davis Young, my grandmother, who marched with and rested on the back of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who rested on the back of many like Sojourner Truth, Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau.
Resting on the backs of HEROES, we ALL stand.
This is not a republican thing, it’s not a democrat thing — my friends it not even simply an American thing — this is an issue for humanity. It’s a question of worth — and human worth should never be questioned.
The best way for one to live out their true worth is to spend their lives protecting and demanding the dignity and respect of ALL people.