My Sermon on Patriotism

 I gave this sermon yesterday, and many people said they appreciated this message, particularly this week.

NEVER FORGET:  you ARE patriotic!

“Patriotism”

 

            Wow, what a week to be speaking about patriotism! Some of my friends are saying they are “not feeling very patriotic” in the days leading up to the 4^th of July, the day we celebrate the birth of this country. You may feel the same way, but I hope you all read this with an open mind this morning. I’ve been collecting the thoughts and words of so many Americans this week, and I hope you will consider them with all the openness you can muster.

I’m going to make the case this morning that it’s time to rethink our reaction to, and our own definitions of, the word patriotism. Some of us get the heebie-jeebies when anyone talks about patriotism; to us, it conjures up visions of “performative patriotism”:  flag clothing used to say, “I love my country more than you do!”, exclusionary “patriotic” songs, public displays of flag-hugging, or endless recitations of the “Pledge of Allegiance”.

So let’s start with a definition of patriotism, which is:  “Love for or devotion to one’s country.” Or, you might prefer this one: “feeling of attachment and commitment to a country.”  This week, I read the transcript of a panel discussion at the John F. Kennedy Library in 2003. One of the panelists, Louis Menand, said this:  “I want to suggest that patriotism, or love of country it is this:  when you’re born, you’re handed certain things. You’re handed your parents, you’re handed the color of your skin, you’re handed your gender. And you’re handed the place you were born, New York City or the United States of America. You can do something with those things ...choosing to do something with them rather than simply taking credit for something you had nothing to do with. That’s patriotism.”

I’ve been thinking about the concept of patriotism a very long time—probably since the early 1970’s, a time of great unrest, and massive changes, in our country. It was a time when there were those who dared to suggest ways to improve our country, who dared to state that justice was not equal to ALL citizens of the United States.  That’s when I first heard the phrase, “America:  Love It or Leave It”. For reasons unknown to my 12-year-old self, when I heard someone say that, I felt “my hackles go up”—my jaw would clench and I felt very defensive for some reason. I knew instinctively then that there was something wrong with those words, and now I know full well why I felt that way. To me, any heartfelt discussion ends when the other person says something so offensive. Because I want to make MY country better, because I want MY country to be the best for all citizens, I have to leave??? That makes no sense. Sadly, that mindless, thoughtless statement still is thrown around today.

Do I love my country? Yes, I do. I love the ideals of free speech, equality under the law, and the basic ideas of this democracy. I love to vote, and I love that I can vote. I love the part of the Declaration of Independence that says I have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I love that the Statue of Liberty spells out our welcome to others: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." I appreciate that my country welcomed my ancestors not that many years ago. But, as with any relationship, while I love my country, I know it has flaws. It can be a better country; this is a country that is only as good as the citizens force it to be, because my country is a stubborn entity!

Do I support, am I committed to, my country? Yes, I do, and yes I am. I pay taxes, I vote, I read about and follow the events taking place here. I applaud and cheer when the leaders of my country do something to make the world a better place, and I voice my condemnation when the leaders of my country do something that would hurt the world. I call and write to my representatives in Congress, and in the state of Indiana. And, I am committed to always being aware of what is happening in my country, by following the news and supporting the journalists who bring us the news. I show my diligence as a citizen by contributing to organizations who make sure our laws are upheld fairly (the ACLU). 

Do I defend my country? Yes! When justice is done because our laws are good, and people make sure those laws are followed, yes, I do defend my country with enthusiasm.

James Baldwin, in his book Notes of a Native Son, said it more succinctly, "I love America more than any other country in this world and exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

We have to always remember the United States of America is not just its' leaders, it is the people who live here. We call the White House and the Capitol building “the peoples’ Houses” for a reason—they belong to US, not the current occupants.

Theodore Roosevelt said it best:  "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”

After this initial discussion, perhaps you still feel like the people Jane Coaston has described:  “There is…this growing cynicism. And I would say it’s a form of doomerism; this [feelng], this place sucks. It will always suck. There’s nothing we can do. Everything is bad.”

Here’s what Thomas Jefferson might reply to you:  “When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object,…it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. The oppressed should rebel, and they will continue to rebel and raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them and all partial distinctions, exclusions and incapacitations are removed.”

I put it to you:  We, the people of the United States, were born of patriots…and dissenters. Whether your ancestors were Indigenous, stating that the law of the white interlopers was unjust, or if your family tossed tea into the Boston Harbor—protesting taxation without representation, or if your ancestors escaped famine and strife in another country only to find themselves exploited for labor here, and raged against the injustice of that, or if your foreparents were brought here in chains to be slaves for white people, and for generations have tried to be seen as equals under the law, YOU were born of patriots.

Today, we are going to hear from a lot of those rabble-rousers, those protestors, those PATRIOTS who love this country and want it to be a better place for all. Every one of these people have been lauded as great Americans.

 

Let’s put these first quotes in the column of, “It’s a long fight for justice for all. And we have to fight every day.”

Abigail Adams to John Adams March 31, 1776

“I long to hear that you have declared an independency—and by the way, in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”

 

 

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments, 1848

“We hold these truths to be self-evident:  That all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled.”

            You MUST be involved! Make the comfortable…uncomfortable. Listen to what other patriotic rabble-rousers need, and help them! As my shirt says, “Democracy is NOT a spectator sport.”

Martin Luther King Jr. cautions, in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail April 16, 1963:

“We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal”. But I am sure that if I had lived in Germany during that time I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal….

I must make[an] honest confession to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers…. I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens’ Counciler of the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who Is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence justice; who says, “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season”. Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”

Do not be deterred. NEVER let someone tell you, “America, love it or leave it.” The fight is here, it’s important, and it IS American.

            Paul Robeson, actor and singer, was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities on June 12, 1956. Here is a part of the exchange between Mr. Robeson and members of the Committee:

“In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being. Where I did not feel the pressure of color as I feel it in this Committee today.

Question:  Why did you not stay in Russia?

Answer:  Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you. And no Fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear?”

 

            If this week taught us nothing else, it reminded us to always hold our leaders accountable. It IS patriotic to question, and to VOTE, against anyone in power who fails to follow or uphold the laws of our country. Ben Franklin replied, when questioned about the work of the committee who were crafting the Constitution, that they were creating a “Republic, if YOU can keep it”. It’s our very basic patriotic duty to make sure the powerful are held accountable. And, we’ve had to do that over and over and over again, throughout the history of the United States.

            George Mason, a participant in the Constitutional Convention, issued this warning in 1787:

“The president of the United States has no Constitutional Council, a thing unknown in any safe and regular government. He will therefore be unsupported by proper information and advice, and will generally be directed by minions and favorites; or he will become a tool to the Senate…

The President of the United States has the unrestrained power of granting pardons for treason, which may sometimes exercise to screen from punishment those whom he had secretly instigated to commit the crime, and thereby prevent a discovery of his own guilt.”

            Margaret Chase Smith , the first woman elected to both houses of Congress, stated this in her Declaration of Conscience (in response to the McCarthy “witch hunts” for Communists), in 1950:

“Mr. President:  I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear….I think it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching—for us to weigh our consciences—on the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America—on the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges.

I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. I think that it is high time that we remembered; that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation…

Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism,…ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism—

The right to criticize;

The right to hold unpopular beliefs;

The right to protest;

The right of independent thought.

The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us doesn’t? Otherwise none of us could call our souls our own. Otherwise thought control would have set in.”

            And just this week, Cassidy Hutchinson weighed in on the actions of a former president when she appeared before the January 6^th Committee of the House of Representatives:

            “Ms. Hutchinson, do you recall seeing this tweet, in which the president said the vice president did not have the courage to do what needed to be done?

CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: I do.

REP. CHENEY: Ms. Hutchinson, what was your reaction when you saw this tweet?

CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: As a staffer that worked to always represent the administration to the best of my ability and to showcase the good things that he had done for the country, I remember feeling frustrated and disappointed, and really it felt personal. I — I was really sad. As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic.

It was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie, and it was something that was really hard in that moment to digest, knowing what I've been hearing down the hall and the conversations that were happening. Seeing that tweet come up and knowing what was happening on the Hill, and it's something that I — it's still — I still struggle to work through the emotions of that.”

 

As we have heard from rabble-rousing, questioning Americans:  to be patriotic, one must be willing to fight—constantly--for the ideals of our country. Our country was built on the ideals of equality, justice, and building and sustaining a country that would then make positive contributions to the rest of the world. I think the founders of this country hoped that other countries would look to us as an example of how a government should work; a government elected by a free citizenry, a country where every one of its' people worked together to make it, and then the rest of the world, a better place. A people that worked together for the common good, not just for themselves.

 I close with the words of President John F. Kennedy, "Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort? In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility — I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it — and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love."

THAT, my friends, is patriotism.

Thank you.

Copyright 2022

 

 

My Sermon on Susan B. Anthony March 6 2022

Failure Is Impossible

 

“Failure Is Impossible?”

Sermon by Gale Charlotte

March 6, 2022

 

 

            I’d like to thank the Worship Committee for inviting me to speak this morning, Denise Wilson for the amazing and uplifting music, and Gary Fowler and Eric Thiel for their expertise—enabling Zoom viewers and in-person congregants alike to be able to see and hear this morning.

            Before I start to really speak about Susan B. Anthony this morning, I need to make a couple of things clear:

1)      The Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-choice organization, has co-opted Anthony’s name and image to give themselves some legitimacy. Because Anthony left no direct heirs to challenge them, this organization has been able to get away with this with impunity. Numerous historians and scholars have stated that Anthony NEVER voiced an opinion, pro or anti, about women’s reproductive rights.

2)      While women were granted the right to vote in 1920, there were restrictions placed on women of color; they were not all “free” to vote immediately. Indigenous women were not allowed to vote until 1924, when the US government passed the Indian Citizenship Act, and couldn’t truly freely vote until 1948. In 1943, the Magnuson Act allowed Chinese citizens the right to vote. In 1952, the McCarran-Walter Act was passed, allowing Japanese women the right to vote. And lest we forget, it was not until 1965, with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, that Black women everywhere in the country could freely vote.

 

 

So, let’s get started, shall we? Susan B. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. Her father was a Quaker and her mother was a Baptist; however, Susan and her siblings were raised in the Quaker tradition, which was especially important, as the Quaker tradition sees women and men as equals, each with equal and valuable opinions and voices. In addition, the Anthonys made sure all their children were equally educated.  Her parents were temperance advocates and were abolitionists (the family provided a stop on the Underground Railroad). Susan and her siblings learned how to organize and hold meetings, and distribute pamphlets. The beliefs and efforts of the parents DID influence the lives of their children, all of whom went on to be active leaders of various social movements (there is hope, parents!).

At the age of 17, Susan became a teacher, as many women did, to help her family financially. When she was 25, her family moved to Rochester, New York, and their farmstead became a meeting place for local advocates, including Frederick Douglass, who became a life-long friend.

It was in 1848, that the Seneca Falls Convention was convened by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The reason for the Convention? To discuss the "condition of women" broadly, and specifically, to begin to organize and fight for a woman's right to vote. Women in the US had never spoken in public prior to this convention—imagine! So, that was in 1848. The 19th Amendment (giving women the right to vote) was ratified in 1920. I know you can do math, but I will tell you it took  SEVENTY-TWO YEARS for women to win this basic right.

Susan B. Anthony was not immediately involved in the suffrage movement; by the time her family began to become active in the movement, Anthony was living away from home, working as a headmistress of a boarding school. She later said about this time:  “I wasn't ready to vote, didn't want to vote, but I did want equal pay for equal work."

Susan B. Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1851, and, I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say our country was never the same again! Their friendship lasted over 50 years.

 In 1854, Stanton, Anthony, and Ernestine Rose presented petitions with ten thousand signatures FOR women’s suffrage and the right of married women to own property to the New York state legislature (I need to point out that getting those signatures involved going to every county in New York state by horse and buggy.) The petitions were remarkable in that they included signatures of both men and women, scandalous at the time. These three women were vilified as heretics, but New York did finally pass the Married Women’s Property Act six years later, in 1860; this law gave married women the right to own separate property, enter into contracts and be joint guardians of their children. This was huge, because prior to this, in New York state, women WERE the property of their husbands, as were their children. If there was a separation (woman-initiated divorce was not yet legal), the woman was left with nothing.

 So, at age 31, Susan B. Anthony had indeed found her calling, and never looked back. She never married, and because of this, she could be the “legs” of the movement; travelling and lecturing while Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was the mother of seven, stayed at home, writing and organizing (yes, SEVEN children—Susan B. Anthony did become exasperated with her friend and all those babies, as she wanted Elizabeth Cady Stanton to join her out in the world).

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were not alone in the fight—they were joined by many women, among them Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone (the first woman to graduate from college in the US), and Antionette Brown (the 1^st female ordained minster in the US).

            Oh how Anthony traveled! She traveled without an escort (scandalous!), and traveled mostly in the winter. Why the winter? Because farmers were more likely to be at home, rather than out on their farms, and would also have more free time to attend a speech or lecture. In one winter, she traveled by train and buggy to 54 counties in five months. She was seen first as an oddity, then as a threat—how dare she persist in talking about equal pay, equal education, the right to divorce, THE RIGHT TO VOTE??--her ideas were just so radical. She faced down angry mobs, she was pelted with rotten eggs, and at one stop, the only reason she was allowed to speak without interruption was the presence of the mayor with a loaded shotgun.

            Anthony did return home during the Civil War, but she and Stanton agreed the work should continue—they were afraid (rightly so) that all of their efforts would be rolled back. While at home during the Civil War, Anthony worked with Harriet Tubman and others to supply fugitive slaves with food and supplies. After word was received about the Emancipation Proclamation, the women worked for the freedom of all slaves, and then began to work for universal suffrage—men and women of every race being allowed to vote. The men would certainly agree, right?!

No.

The women worked so closely with men on issues, but felt completely betrayed upon being told the men would be pushing for Black men’s rights only. Susan B. Anthony felt especially betrayed by Fredrick Douglass.

She said, “The question of precedence has no place on an equal rights platform. The only reason it ever forced itself here was because certain persons insisted that women must stand back and wait until another class should be enfranchised.”

She went on to say, “If Mr. Douglass had noticed who applauded when he said “black men first and white women afterwards”, he would have seen that is was only the men. When he tells us that the case of black men is so perilous, I tell him that even outraged as they are by the hateful prejudice against color, he himself would not today exchange his sex and color with Elizabeth Cady Stanton.”

The 14^th Amendment was passed in 1868, and the 15^th Amendment was passed in 1870.

Passage of these two amendments, and the very visible lack of support from the men in their movement, convinced the women that they needed their own women’s organization, which could work exclusively on the issues faced by women. There was a split in ideology:  Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton believed women exclusively would hold the offices of their organization and the focus would be on a national Constitutional amendment. They formed:  The National Woman Suffrage Association. Lucy Stone and others believed men should also be included in the running of their organization, and suffrage should be a state-by-state effort, and they formed:  The American Equal Rights Association. It was 30 years before these organizations joined into one:  The National American Woman Suffrage Association.

               Susan B. Anthony also hit the road again (by now, she was age 52). On January 1, 1872, she looks back at the past year:  

On way home, Rochester, N.Y.

from six months in California, Oregon,

Wash. Ter. & Nevada. 6 months of

constant travel full 8000 miles --

108 lectures -- The year's work -- full

13000 miles, 170 meetings

At this point, the women realize they must expand their efforts from the legislative branch to the judicial.

In the presidential election of 1872, Susan B. Anthony decided to test the ambiguity of the 14^th and 15th amendments. She and her sisters demanded they be allowed to register to vote, and the young male registrars agreed. On November 5, 1872, Anthony cast her vote at 7 a.m. This, of course, made headlines, as did stories of other women across the country who did the same thing. For three weeks, political officials did nothing. THEN, she was arrested (she demanded to be handcuffed), booked, released, and ordered to stand trial. Between the time of her release and her trial, Susan B. Anthony traveled to every city and town and village in the county, raising awareness of the issues surrounding her arrest, so……they had to move her trial! Of course, she was not allowed to speak in her own defense. And, the judge ordered the all-male jury to find Anthony guilty. She was fined $100. She said she would not pay it, and she never did.

The arrest of Anthony and the subsequent trial brought a lot of attention to the movement; Anthony was becoming a “legend in her own time”. She traveled, helped Stanton with her three-volume history of women (so the work of women would not be forgotten), organized many, many conventions, and joined forces with other women’s groups. She attended every session of Congress from 1869 to 1906. She became completely focused on one issue:  women’s right to vote.

In 1878, after THREE YEARS of work, Stanton and Anthony finally convinced one California senator to propose an amendment to give women the right to vote. That year, the amendment did not make it out of committee. This amendment would be introduced at each session of Congress for the next 45 years.

By 1890, at age 70, Susan B. Anthony has to know she’s made a difference in women’s lives. 80% of colleges now admit women. Women have businesses, keep earnings, and own property. They are doctors and lawyers, and in some states can serve on juries. And, most importantly, women can vote in FOUR states:  Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Idaho (Anthony proudly wears a flag pin with FOUR stars on it). She sees young women bringing energy to “The Cause”:  these young women see Anthony and the efforts she’s made on their behalf, but this 2^nd generation had less understanding of how much women had been dominated in the past, how little power they had had. For them, with the right they had, the idea of women gaining the right to vote was possibly…attainable?  Late in her life, Anthony looked at this next generation and said, “"…With such women consecrating their lives, failure is impossible!".”

In 1902, Elizabeth Cady Stanton died—the day before she died, she dictated a letter to President Teddy Roosevelt and his wife, to encourage him to include suffrage in his State of the Union address. What a blow her death must have been to Anthony! Anthony calls it, “An awful hush.”

In 1904, there was a reception at the White House to celebrate Anthony’s 84^th birthday. Accounts from that day say she would have been more impressed with action, not flowery words.

In January, 1906, Susan B. Anthony attended her last women’s rights convention. She was weak, frail, and tired, but must have been uplifted by the love and devotion given to her that day. She died in March 1906 at the age of 86, after working her whole life for women’s rights, especially the right to vote. Her last words were, "To think I have had more than 60 years of hard struggle for a little liberty, and then to die without it seems so cruel." 

Indeed.

I cannot think about this remarkable woman without asking, “Why?” and “How”? Why did she make the difficult decision to devote her entire adult life to the issue of temperance, abolition, and later, to the full-time job of working for women’s rights? Why did Susan B. Anthony keep working for the right of women to vote, knowing full well it would not happen in her lifetime?  How did she keep going, day after day, month after month, year after year, facing hostile crowds, horrible traveling conditions, and advancing years, knowing that she would not see, would not celebrate, the day when women in this country could cast a vote in any election? 

Sixty years is a very long time to do anything. We are two years into a global pandemic and, rightly so, we are tired and feel hopeless at times. We do the right things:  get vaccinated, wear a mask, stay at home, and it just seems to make no difference. So why do we do it? Why should we do it?

Why should we commit to…anything?

Because it’s the right thing to do.

It’s the right thing. To DO.

As Susan B. Anthony showed us, throughout her entire life, we humans have the capacity to do what’s right for each other. But we don’t always have the motivation. We think it’s hard to attend a rally at our courthouse—it’s “SOOOOO far!” We think we’re too tired to write a postcard or even an email to our member of Congress! We think we are too busy to even call or text our local officials, who by the way are really willing to listen! We. Forget. To. Vote.

Thank the stars Susan B. Anthony didn’t feel this way.

Rev. Jennie spoke on February 13^th about collective action and the common good. Remember, we do not do this alone. We can do everything together. We can lift each other up; we can take over when one of us is too tired or too burdened. If one of us has money, we can donate it. If one of us has a talent, we can use it. And, above all else, if we know just even one person of the next generation, we can show them, by our actions and our words, that this planet and our species is worth fighting for.

Finally, let us commit to the words of our covenant: “Love is the spirit of this church, and service is it’s law. THIS IS OUR covenant—to dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love, and to help one another.”

Failure IS impossible.

Thank you.