SF Waldorf Grade School MLK Assembly

MLK Assembly 2024 lead by the San Francisco Waldorf School Eighth Grade of 2024

Group art project by Grade 8 depicting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh

Howard Thurman’s Meditation During these turbulent times we must remind ourselves repeatedly that life goes on.

This we are apt to forget.

The wisdom of life transcends our wisdoms; the purpose of life outlasts our purposes; The process of life cushions our processes.

The mass attack of disillusion and despair, distilled out of the collapse of hope, has so invaded our thoughts that what we know to be true and valid seems unreal and ephemeral.

There seems to be little energy left for aught but futility.

This is the great deception.

By it whole peoples have gone down to oblivion without the will to affirm the great and permanent strength of the clean and the commonplace.

Let us not be deceived.

It is just as important as ever to attend to the little graces by which the dignity of our lives is maintained and sustained.

Birds still sing; the stars continue to cast their gentle gleam over the desolation of the battlefields, and the heart is still inspired by the kind word and the gracious deed.

There is no need to fear evil.

There is every need to understand what it does, how it operates in the world, what it draws upon to sustain itself.

We must not shrink from the knowledge of the evilness of evil.

Over and over we must know that the real target of evil is not destruction of the body, the reduction to rubble of cities; the real target of evil is to corrupt the spirit of man and to give his soul the contagion of inner disintegration.

When this happens, there is nothing left, the very citadel of man is captured and laid waste.

Therefore the evil in the world around us must not be allowed to move from without to within.

This would be to be overcome by evil.

To drink in the beauty that is within reach, to clothe one’s life with simple deeds of kindness, to keep alive a sensitiveness to the movement of the spirit of God in the quietness of the human heart and in the workings of the human mind— this is as always the ultimate answer to the great deception.

Howard Thurman, illustration by Elio Zellweger, Grade 8

Introduction This year, the 8th grade wishes to bring the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a new light. It is important to note that no one, not even Dr. King can get where they want to go, alone. Everyone needs a friend, a mentor, a collaborator, or an ally. In our lifetime, we make acquaintances. We meet new people. They question us and challenge us. Sometimes we disagree but we grow through these encounters. We unite. We share a common goal. A belief. A dream.

A potential reality. Dr. King met people as well. Once, he was a young man. A student just like you. Who grew to become a student of life through his many encounters. He looked into the world and learned to see with his heart and soul. But Martin Luther King Jr. could not see the world from the eyes, heart and soul of a stranger. He could not see what a Vietnamese monk could see. He could not see what a woman saw. What a gay man saw. What a feminist saw. What a champion of non-violent protest from India saw. But when he met these people, it was as if a hand had wiped the fog off a clouded window. He stepped forth with his allies to wipe the fog off the window of the world. To make the world see through the looking glass they offered. To see every hemisphere of the earth. See everyone. Their voices rose in unison, louder by far than a single, lone voice.

Biography of MLK Although Martin Luther King Jr. is often referred to as Dr. which is a title that he gained for his Doctorate in Systematic Theology at Boston College, there is a lesser known title that he identified himself with more. He was Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Yes, he was an ordained Baptist minister, which is one of the many denominations of the Christian Church in America. He often said, “I am a preacher, the son of a preacher, the grandson and the great grandson of a preacher.” He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta at the age of 15.

When he attended the Theological Seminary outside of Philadelphia, he took all eight courses in preaching when he was only required to take two! In fact, all his speeches were sermons delivered in houses of worship.

He used his understanding of the scriptures and was able to convey the values and virtues that they taught to the local people. He used his skills of preaching and church leadership to engage in the evolving social movement to bring justice to Black America, thereby forging partnerships between the religious and the secular worlds. He believed passionately in the dignity and work of the human person and in the agency of a loving God who aided the suffering and oppressed people.

Biography of Thich Nhat Hanh Thich Nhat Hanh was a Vietnamese monk who pioneered Engaged Buddhism. He taught that enlightenment could be found in life’s daily activities, at any moment. He also believed in nonduality - which means that as we work on ourselves and become better people, we make the world a better place. Without abandoning his monastic life, he enrolled in Saigon

University to study World Literature. He continued to be a pioneer, traveling to undertake graduate studies at Princeton and teaching seminars at Columbia. He founded a Buddhist University in Vietnam, a school of youth for social service, and several meditation centers.

He trained young men and women to work with the rural and urban poor. He was the first Buddhist monk to ordain women as nuns thus promoting gender equality. He wrote Buddhist teachings and apologetics, poetry, journals and even a play! He believed that spirit is available in the here and now and can be “touched” in this life. In his journals and poetry, you can get a glimpse of who he was. Not a monk serene and unshakeable but moved by beauty, particularly of nature, plants, mountains and landscapes - he was touched by the kindness of friends - he felt loneliness and ached for his home country.

The Beloved Community The Beloved Community was always a main theme in Dr. King’s work. It is deeply rooted in the belief that non-violence and reconciliation are the way to peace in a single community. The community is a blanket of consciousness that holds all the people of the world in its embrace.

The Beloved Community knows no barriers of ethnicity, race, religion or personal belief.

This diverse collection of talent and skills can accomplish more together than as individuals.

This unity of the entire human race is a great being of power moving through the world as an entity of love and peace.

Friendship between MLK and TNH The friendship between Dr. King and Thich Nhat Hanh is a manifestation of the Beloved Community.

One was a Buddhist teacher while the other was a Baptist preacher!

How wonderful that their friendship grew in the midst of a raging war between their two countries!

They met only twice, each time for a few hours - and wrote letters to each other. They became friends, working with one another in the hope of bringing the Vietnam War to an end.

The idea of the Beloved Community was birthed by the Californian philosopher, Josiah Royce, son of English emigrants. Royce was the father of American realism and believed in the concept of the all encompassing consciousness that Dr. King spoke of when speaking on behalf of his brothers and sisters in Vietnam.

Josiah Royce, illustration by Annelise Johns, Grade 8

Minister A.J. Muste, a Dutch-born American clergyman, political activist, and known for his work in the labor movement, pacifist movement and the civil rights movement picked up the idea and expanded the understanding of it.

From Muste, the idea of the Beloved Community was upheld by Black theologian, Howard Thurman, a Black theologian and mentor of Dr. King.

A.J. Muste, illustration by Imane Moosa, Grade 8

Letter from Birmingham Jail On one fateful day in 1963, Dr. King was jailed for the 13th time for his activism.

Being in prison gave him time to reflect on the aggression and suffering, which combined with his passion created the legendary writing “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” In this letter, his belief in the interconnectedness of life and reconciliation are expressed. In doing so, a window is flung open into a spiritual practice in non-violent activism. He employs a strategic practice of “raising the tension” using the vivid metaphor of being a pesky gadfly that he learned from the ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates. He raises the tension by addressing the letter to the seven white members of the clergy - 6 Christian and 1 Jewish.

“I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

King wrote - “Reconciliation is the path to the beloved community.” The seven clergymen had urged Blacks in Birmingham to reject the leadership of Dr. King and to patiently wait for promised reform. King’s letter, published for the public to read, exposed the hollowness of this idea of gradualism, thus turning the spotlight on these religious leaders. He also wrote to them as faith leaders of the Judeo-Christian heritage, as one of them, a Christian minister but as a Black man from a jail cell. His letter was asking them to reconsider their behavior that erected a false barrier between them and him, asking them to reconcile with him and with the people he represented.

While Dr. King sat writing in his cell, his wife fought for his release.

Coretta Scott King, illustration by Elie Calderon, Grade 8

Coretta Scott King Coretta Scott King was a musician, singer, and activist who studied vocal music performance at the New England Conservatory of Music. She used her art to change the hearts of listeners to understand and join a cause. Although she is often overshadowed by her husband, Dr. King, she was a leader in her own right and was vital to his success. She personally intervened with the young Massachusetts Senator and candidate for American presidency, John F. Kennedy, to gain help in freeing her husband from a jail sentence of four months of hard labor. Coretta joined Dr. King on his trip to India, and forged connections with non-violent activists there.

Even though Coretta loved her husband and was dedicated to the civil rights movement, she did not hesitate to criticize the movement for its male-dominated leadership that reflected the attitudes of the wider society. She did not stay home and be a housewife, as King initially expected her to be.

As a testimony to her bravery and courage, she marched down the streets of Memphis with her children just days after her husband was assassinated. She said she felt compelled to come and asked, “How many men must die before we really have a free and true and powerful society?”

Many women were a part of the Civil Rights movement , though they are often overshadowed.

This is their story.

Rosa Parks Rosa Parks played a powerful and pivotal role in the civil rights movement. In 1955, she was arrested and fined for refusing to give up her bus seat for a white passenger. Parks had been a part of the movement since the 1940s when she joined the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.) She became the chapter’s secretary and was a trained civil rights activist. It was in this rich mix of organizations and activists around Rosa Parks, that King, at age 26, was chosen to be the leader of the bus boycott that began five days after her arrest.

Rosa Parks, illustration by Annelise Johns, Grade 8

Ella Baker Ella Baker, older than Fannie Lou Hamer and Dr. King was born in Virginia in 1903, raised in North Carolina, and died in New York City at the age of 83. Although her grandmother was born into slavery, Ella was able to go to college and live a free life. She was a very religious woman but criticized the Black Church as being supported by women and dominated by men as well as practicing top-down leadership.

She often talked about radical democracy which meant building power from the ground up. At Shaw University where Ella went, she founded the student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. She also founded another group with Dr. King, called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Even though Dr. King and she disagreed a lot when working together, they kept their eyes on the prize. One of her main slogans was “Lift as you climb.” This means as you move forward in life, try to bring as many people along as possible.

Ella Baker, illustration by Jet Goldmann, Grade 8

Fannie Lou Hamer Fannie Lou Hamer was a poor Black woman from Mississippi. Being the youngest of 20 children, she was forced to drop out of school after 6th grade to help support her family. Her thirst to learn, however, was more powerful than her lack of schooling. She could quote lengthy passages from the Bible that supported the cause of justice while she was ridiculed by both Blacks and whites for her heavy southern accent and poor grammar. But that did not stop her.

Fannie fought to represent Black people in politics and co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

She helped found multiple organizations to help with voter registration and used economics as a strategy for greater racial equality. Hamer began a “pig bank” to provide Black farmers with free pigs to breed, raise and slaughter. With the help of donors such as the famed singer Harry Belafonte, she purchased 630 acres of land and started a co-op store and a sewing enterprise and ensured that low-income housing was built in Ruleville. Hundreds of African Americans had Ms. Hamer to thank for the roof above their heads.

She was a brave and vivacious leader who deeply believed in the power of voting and expansion of Black political rights and representation. Although she and Dr. King did not always see eye to eye, she shared his commitment that the politics of love could overcome the politics of hate.

Fannie Lou Hamer, illustration by Declan Conoley, Grade 8

MLK’s Trip to India In 1959, Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King, took a trip to India to explore the land that introduced him to nonviolent protest, a philosophy that spread in India under the leadership of Gandhi and eventually helped claim the land back from the British. In India, Dr. King traveled to the southern tip of the country to visit high school students whose families had been untouchables who were people who belonged to the lowest tier in their caste system. He was perplexed and a little offended when the principal of the school introduced him as a fellow untouchable from the United States of America. He had flown in from another continent and had dined with the prime minister. He did not see the connection, did not see what the Indian caste system had to do with him, did not see why the lowest caste people in India would view him, an African American and a distinguished visitor, as one of them. But then he realized that he and twenty million other Black people living in the United States, the Land of the Free, were confined to the lowest rank in America for centuries, smothered in a cage of poverty, segregated in ghettos and exiled in their own country. In that moment he realized he had been subject to a caste system not unlike the caste system of India all his life. It was what lay beneath the forces he was fighting in America. India could teach him a thing or two about his struggles back home. In time, the principles of Ahimsa (non-violence), Satyagraha (literally holding on to the truth) and Swarajya (self-governance) became part of the working vocabulary of the civil rights movement in America.

Upon reflecting on his trip to India King said, “Since being in India I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.”

Gandhi, illustration by Nola Conoley, Grade 6

Bayard Rustin Another leader who began advising Dr. King on Gandhi’s principles of non-violence in the mid 50s, was Bayard Rustin. He was an openly gay man who did not want his sexual identity to draw energy and attention away from the civil rights movement. He worked behind the scenes and was an active force in helping cultivate an American Black version of Gandhian nonviolence.

Bayard Rustin, illustration by Calli Aho, Grade 6

Dr. King shares this idea of Beloved Community with TNH and expands his commitments to include peace in Vietnam.He faces criticism and opposition from supporters and allies even from the civil rights movement for this new commitment. But Dr. King strongly feels that abandoning his loyalty to the cause of the Vietnamese people would be a betrayal of the Beloved Community.

In his “Beyond Vietnam”, he says-This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders in Vietnam. “Each day the war goes on, the hatred increases in the hearts of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those humanitarian instincts. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the American government that calculates so carefully on the possibilities of military victory does not realize that in the process it is incurring deep psychological and spiritual defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy but the image of violence and militarism.” We could say this is Thich Nhat Hanh’s invitation to Dr. King to reconcile with the truth and to recognize that the oppression that the Vietnamese people faced was the same oppression that he was fighting in his own country.

Reconciliation is a fundamental aspect of the Beloved Community. It is not only a process of forgiveness but also one of mending and growth. If, for example, a person hurts a friend, realizes their mistake and then comes to a true reconciliation with the friend, their friendship can be stronger and deeper than it was before the harm was done.

The Japanese art of Wabi Sabi perfectly depicts this concept. Though the delicate china may have been broken, when mended with fine webs of gold, they are beautiful and enhanced.

Though mistakes are made, we reconcile, grow stronger and continue to build our own beloved community.

Closing Martin Luther King Jr. was a fearless leader of the civil rights movement. He was both a political and a spiritual leader. He took the threads of African American Christianity, theology, Gandhian non-violence, European and American worker union strategies, and the tactics of pacifism and weaves together a powerful tapestry that is successfully enacted in mass movements, boycotts, and strikes - showing the American people how to put ideas into action.

May we gather these sparks of inspiration and continue to share them with each other so we may grow together in peace, liberty, and harmony!

About Our Process

by Pallavi Chambers and Wanda Guzman

The main element connecting the different aspects of our assembly was the idea of the beloved community. The Beloved Community is a concept that holds that everyone can come together and create a respectful and loving space. We demonstrated this by having everyone play a role in the preparation and execution of our assembly.

As part of building our beloved community we let everyone choose their part in the production.

Together, with the help of a parent, Renee Zellweger, we created a pixelated drawing of Dr. King and his good friend, Thich Nhat Hanh, as a class. The picture was divided into 25 squares, and each student drew one. A small group of students came together to write speeches based on information our teacher, Ms. Sivasankaran, had gathered.* The practice of writing a speech was new to us, as we had previously focused on essays and summaries. The speakers and writers joined forces to complete the speeches considering everyone's perspective on it.

Once we chose the topics, we wanted to illustrate the figures we spoke about. Nine students volunteered to draw portraits of these people. Two sixth graders offered their artistic skill to complete two of the portraits and the 7th grade started off the assembly with a song, another example of the beloved community. Another group of classmates wrote quotes on large pieces of paper and we put them around the school to create an atmosphere for the assembly. * Much of the material presented to the students for this project came from Marc Andrus’ book Brothers in the Beloved Community: The Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr. (Parallax Press, Nov 16, 2021)

Ganga Sivasankaran, Class Teacher, Grade 8 2024

Grade 8 Class List 2024 Penny Baker Elie Calderon Althea Castellucci Pallavi Chambers Aidan Chen Declan Conoley Nicolas Ferrando Jet Goldmann Wanda Guzman

Victoria Heinmiller Lucia Horvath Beatrix Hudgens Annelise Johns Maja Karolak Estelle Lebowitz Imane Moosa Zoe Murano Ameya Prabhu

Charlotte Quirke Levi Sol Saltiel Negrillo Aleksei Tcheng Parker Washington Blaise Wazna-Blank Aya Weening Elio Zellweger Robin Zellweger