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The

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When I see the fires that have been lighted in the city,

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I cannot help but wonder when it will come to me.

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When will my neighborhood be burned?

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As I think more carefully,

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I begin to ask what was it that led a man to set such a fire?

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How much had he been hurt before he was willing to hurt others?

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How can I remove the causes of the hurt

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in order that the fires will not be set?

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I'm dismayed by the rioting crowd

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because when the police must move in to quiet a riot,

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I have to move out.

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I cannot be effective.

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No one will listen to a preacher.

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The preacher who can't speak always is dismayed.

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But fortunately, we live for another day.

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When the riot has been quieted,

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when we can investigate the causes of the riot,

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when we can work to overcome those causes.

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When I hear of students destroying a president's office,

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I say they've gone crazy.

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I cannot condone it.

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At the same time,

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I admit that students are in a role where they may not be heard.

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They may have difficulty speaking out in such a way as to bear an influence

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commensurate with their own abilities.

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So every school and every university has been alerted

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and I think is working to find the ways in which students can take their place

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along with faculty and board of directors and administration

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to work for the common good of the educational program.

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Change is the most certain thing about human life.

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I once wrote that a man grows up in one world and he grows old in another.

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I have felt this need for extreme adjustment myself

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as I'm sure almost everyone has in modern society.

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It makes our inner soul cry out for stability.

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It makes us want to shunt away problems.

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But God calls us through the changes which I feel he's working in history.

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We will tell them, we will tell them that this generation is out of breath.

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We will face them wherever they come, anytime they come.

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Black Power!

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I feel that the militant may be tearing the temple down

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without being able to rebuild it.

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At the same time I realize that there is a place for what is called Black Power.

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We've had Scandinavian power and German power

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and we Lutherans have reason to understand how living in one neighborhood

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we were able to elect people to the city council who truly represented us

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and elected people to Congress who represented us.

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Therefore we can understand why some people would say

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Black people must live in one neighborhood where they can elect members

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to the city council or to the Congress who will truly represent them.

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One of the impressive findings of the Kerner Report has to do with the dangers

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of two societies in America.

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From one point of view that is merely a matter of national strength.

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From a Christian point of view it relates to our concern for the unity of mankind.

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The underlying forces at work that the commission found

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to be the chief causes of unrest in these cities.

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At bottom underneath all of those causes is the whole history of race.

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The commission has also found that there can be no higher priority for national action

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and no higher claim on the nation's conscience.

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In other words the commission was saying for heaven's sake

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put up front on the front burners of the stove.

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Racism has been used in so many ways.

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I discover in conversations with people that they often do not understand the term

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as I would understand it.

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But I think of that natural barrier between people

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that comes from having lived too far apart.

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I would be willing to confess that I am probably guilty of white racism.

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Even as much as I desire to love the black man, consider him my brother,

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work together with him to meet our mutual needs.

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Still no doubt there are ways in which I may become paternalistic, condescending,

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heaven knows what the psychological implications may be.

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Furthermore, since we live in a society that is made up of corporate institutions,

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there can very easily be ways in which our corporate existence,

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our institutional existence puts the black man at a disadvantage that I don't even realize.

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I think how right this is.

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And secondly I think how sad it is that it's necessary.

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So it is altogether right that they should begin to realize that they are beautiful people.

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The dichotomy between wealth and poverty has always been frustrating to Christians.

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What we need to guard against is such extremes that some people cannot even be heard when they are in need.

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That some people do not have the opportunity to rise in power, in enlightenment, and in productivity, in spiritual realization.

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We need to be alert to the cruelties that may occur for some people,

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even when the mass of the people are benefiting greatly.

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I know in my very viscera something's out of tune.

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I know that something has to be done to overcome this tragedy of the undernourished child in a nation enjoying abundance.

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There isn't a day passes but shows us the dimensions of the problems in our cities.

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The easiest way is to call our attention to the headlines in the newspapers.

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It includes simple material needs of people, earthly needs, the needs for employment, the need for housing, the needs for education,

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and we as Christians are responsive to those needs.

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But there is a deeper and more subtle aspect. I would call it the spiritual aspect.

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It's the aspect of men loving each other, if I may put it very simply.

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The church has been working in many ways to meet the needs of people in the cities,

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especially the Board of American Missions has delegated a sizable portion of its budget to work with minority groups in order to create one unified program for a neighborhood.

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The Board of Social Ministry has seen to it that a representative was on the scene in the time of crisis to be of assistance to pastors and congregations who needed to face up to the particular difficulties.

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It has also carried on an educational program of helping people to understand the problems of our cities and of our minority groups.

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We who know the fellowship of believers seek a way for it to become tangible in the relationships between churches in the suburbs and churches in the city,

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churches in the countryside and churches in the metropolis.

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Through the emergency needs appeal of our Lutheran church in America, which we have called Act in Crisis Today,

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we will be able to help congregations survive and revive where people are most crowded together.

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We will be able to assure the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments.

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We will be able to strengthen bands of Christian people to serve where the needs are greatest.

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Will you join with me through your gift to Act in Crisis Today?