We Belong Together

Interconnected

"Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another."

- Yuri Kochiyama

Yuri Kochiyama was a lifelong champion of civil rights causes in the black, Latino, Native American and Asian-American communities. According to NPR, months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, she and her family were forced to relocate to internment camps along with tens of thousands of other Japanese-Americans. After World War II she and her husband, Bill, and moved to start their family in New York City. Living in housing projects among black and Puerto Rican neighbors inspired her interest in the civil rights movement. Kochiyama held weekly open houses for activists in the family's apartment, where she taped newspaper clippings to the walls and kept piles of leaflets on the kitchen table. according to her daughter, "Our house felt like it was the movement 24/7."

The NPR article goes on, "In the 1980s, she and her husband pushed for reparations and a formal government apology for Japanese-American internees through the Civil Liberties Act, which President Ronald Reagan signed into law in 1988. Her continued dedication to social causes inspired younger generations of activists, especially within the Asian-American community."

Kochiyama was a dedicated leader in the civil rights movement, but she would not have been able to do any of this on here own . Her efforts inspired a community of activists and volunteers.

This whole concept of, I alone can take us out of the wilderness of the swamp, is flawed, it is just plain wrong. You've heard there is strength in numbers. There is, and if that strength is based on fairness and equality and an understanding that we are all a part of something greater that can lead to just and equitable life, the better off we will be.

Arc of Justice

"Martin Luther King, Jr., reminded us that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Change takes a long time, but it does happen. Each of us who works for social change is part of the mosaic of all who work for justice; together we can accomplish multitudes." - B. Obama

The idea of the Moral Arc was carried forward in a book by Michael Shermer. The Moral Arc is about how science leads humanity toward truth, justice, and freedom. Shermer argues that the rise of full democracies around the world, combined with the spread of human rights and civil liberties has led to greater human flourishing. 

A Call to Action

The Moral Arc is not our destiny unless we are willing to work as a community. Understanding the concept of our inter-connectiveness, of community, is important. It is the starting point. Perhaps the following quotes can do a better job of explaining where I'm trying to go with this. After all, I'm simply borrowing on the thoughts and accomplishments of those who came before me.

"In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it. – Marianne Williamson

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men." – Herman Melville

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African Proverb