“One of the great tragedies of life is that men seldom bridge the gulf between practice and profession, between doing and saying. A persistent schizophrenia leaves so many of us tragically divided against ourselves. On the one hand, we proudly profess certain sublime and noble principles, but on the other hand, we sadly practise the very antithesis of these principles. How often are our lives characterised by a high blood pressure of creeds and an anaemia of deeds! We talk eloquently about our commitment to the principles of Christianity, and yet our lives are saturated with the practices of paganism. We proclaim our devotion to democracy, but we sadly practice the very opposite of the democratic creed. We talk passionately about peace, and at the same time we assiduously prepare for war. We make our fervent pleas for the high road of justice, and then we tread unflinchingly the low road of injustice. This strange dichotomy, this agonising gulf between the ought and the is, represents the tragic theme of man’s earthly pilgrimage.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love
Indeed there is a scarlet thread of powerlessness that runs through this eloquent passage by Dr. King. His ability to look into the heart of the ailment that has plagued our nation in the form of separatism and unjustified supremacy, is uncanny. It would be easy for us throw up our hands in some hopeless state surrender resigning to the belief what difference does it make–there is nothing that we can do.
However, there is nothing further from the truth. EM | Power firmly believes that every inch gained in the struggle for freedom by those who died knowing that they would never see the fullness thereof, should be honored by a commitment to continue the fight.
No More Silence–we can not heal what we can not feel.
OUR EXPERIENCE
Over the last 30 years, statics have revealed a clear divide between 10-50 percentile of wage earners and those who fall within the 50-90 percentile. For example, corporate executives make 185 times more than the factory worker today, compared to only 24 times more in 1965. To further complicate this problem, 50% of Blacks fell at or below the 31,000 a year income or less bracket than 34% of their White non-Hispanic counterparts. In other words, the disparity of income is only getting worse.
Not surprisingly, These trends repeat themselves at alarming rates in every sphere of development and care, such as; education, healthcare, home-ownership, retirement income, insurance, etc. Lack of sufficient resources plays a significant role in the ability for individuals and families to effectively compete for and attain the types of jobs that would allow them to move beyond the 50 percentile ceiling–not to mention the rising costs of secondary education.
It is time to rise above the noise and rhetoric of those who have the power to act but have not. It’s time to carve a new path for our country. Our nation is hurting and in need of healing on so many levels. We will no longer stand idly by while countless acts of injustice are knowingly, or unknowingly perpetrated on people of color. We must work while we heal.
We encourage you to assist us in doing all that we can to let the pain that we feel when we hear the stories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and countless others guide not only our hearts to march in protest, but also our votes at the polls–given the chance to usher in the change we need to address and eliminate the unchallenged systematic racist policies and procedures that still exist in our society. LET OUR ANGUISH GUIDE OUR VOTE!
We are determined more now than ever to confront social injustice through the organization of like-minded individuals to serve and raise funds for organizations that have dedicated their mission to this cause. Additionally, we will make every effort to inform and educate those who are still blind to the ways that racism has infused our everyday life experience. We must fight to ensure that everyone who is able to vote does vote. We desire to expose and rid ourselves of years of racist indoctrination. We know that we did not get here overnight, and we recognize that it will take time and effort to bring about lasting change. Nevertheless, we rise to the challenge. We ask that you join us as we have much work to do.
