King, the Moses of black Americans, though never to see it himself, was to deliver his people to the Promised Land, a promise of freedom afforded under the protection of the U.S. Constitution. His assassination marked, to the utmost, the failure of recognition of the other as a separate center of subjectivity (Benjamin), just as white Americans for centuries had failed to see black Americans as subjects, treating them instead as objects, property, inferiors, where different than meant less than, as if there were no self that survives the destruction of otherness, as if we could not be enriched by different perspectives and points of view. Were it that this split complementarity of otherness could instead be the source of newness and creativity to be savored as an enriching newness that lifts us up out of the ashes and dust of conformity, complacency, and deadness of the soul. Is this not the resurrection that we all may celebrate?
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Exquisitely written, this post is an important reminder not to join or succumb to the dark forces of dehumanization which prevail not only in the government but in so much of American society today. This dreadful malady has indeed been present for centuries; however, it was quickly established and practiced as a form of evil governance by the previous administration, and has been as quickly institutionalized by the current administration. The most devilish aspect of it is that it does not appear to be so.
Thanks, Lycia.
Ernesto Vasquez, MD
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