Jim and I received an award this week called the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Award.*
I’m still trying to get my head around having received this. MLK was and is too big. Like when I was five walking around in my father’s shoes. King was a superhero, an example of Christ on earth, staring down evil, motivating the spirit inside anyone who would really hear him to take up the good fight.
So here we are two years into our work with UNITE INDY and I confess that we have not really chosen this—rather, by following the nudging of the Holy Spirit we have been put here. We have been given this mission to make Indianapolis a place where help is always at hand, where we don’t let people fall through the cracks, where equality is a given and there is one and only one race and it is human.
Martin Luther King Jr. radiated love. If the eyes are truly windows to the soul, then his love and peace were visible to anyone who looked at him. But the least among us are radiators as well. We can radiate upset, hate, or judgment, haughtiness, malevolence, and disinterest. Or we can radiate care, goodwill, peace and love—that was the way of MLK, even in the face of his most powerful enemies.
For those who claim goodwill in all its forms, It is time to turn those radiators up a notch. Indianapolis cannot be known for the number of highways that cross its boundaries.
“The Crossroads of America” is a Chamber of Commerce tag—not one that speaks to the nature of our city, nor does it reflect the hopes and dreams we should aspire to.
Indianapolis should be known as “The Heart of America.” Where effort is always underway to bring along those who need assistance. Where the constant idea is to lift our neighbors in need to a place of self-reliance and pride. Where equality is never an issue and acceptance and care overwhelms negativity and non-involvement.
UNITE INDY is not going to do this. We are all going to do this together. It might take some time, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will The Heart of America be born overnight. But strides are being made. UNITE INDY is actively connecting the good people of our town into a network of care that brands us brazenly as a better place, a giving place, a hopeful place, and above all, an equal place that we can all proudly claim as “home.”
Nancy
*This honor was given by Indiana Minority Business Magazine. We hope to constantly live up to the ideals of the man whose name it bears.
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