What kind of community do we want Springfield and Greene County to be for us, our families and future generations?
The release of the 2021 Community Focus Report in October raises this question for me, as do two other recent events.
The report notes the negatives and positives of life here.
Negatives include: labor shortages, low wages, persistent poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, low voter participation, misinformation spread and received uncritically over social media, lack of affordable housing, slowing population growth and violent crime.
Positives include business development and strength, civic engagement, volunteerism, non-profit support, improved voter outreach and education, a spirit of collaboration and high-quality education.
We should celebrate the positives of life here, but, in the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “the fierce urgency of the now” demands that we act to address the negatives.
With the report as our guide, we can do so by forming a clear vision of what we want this community to be and then creating a plan to achieve it.
The cost of doing nothing is too high; the danger of caring only about meeting our needs and ignoring those of others, too great.
I saw that danger recently in what Fox commentator Ann Coulter, a provocateur of the extreme right, said during her talk at Missouri State University. (I support the university’s commitment to free speech, even the repugnant variety.)
Appealing to fear, anxiety and prejudice, she scapegoated immigrants and refugees. She falsely said they were taking jobs away from Americans—meaning, I believe, white, male, native-born, Christians ones. She referred to George Floyd, the black man murdered by a white police officer, asserting, without proof, that violent crime had increased because of Black Lives Matter. She said being opposed to racism was “the basis of all terrible ideas.”
Coulter’s vision of the community she wants for us and for America is a nightmare. It is hell on earth.
In contrast, the day after her MSU speech, I attended the groundbreaking of the new Islamic center, the American Momen Park and Mosque, here in Springfield.
Despite strong thunderstorms, city officials, civic and religious leaders, Muslims, Christians, Jews and people of other faiths gathered in a field and celebrated one of our strengths as a community: our diversity, inclusivity and respect for people who are different from us.
Muslim spiritual leaders, drawing from their sacred scriptures, affirmed their faith in the God of creation, the oneness of humankind and their commitment to the love of neighbors and living in peace with all people and creation itself.
One speaker, who had lived in other countries, said the welcome he and his family had received in this country surpassed that of elsewhere. Our hospitality to newcomers, he said, helped make America great.
I was inspired by the groundbreaking, glimpsing God’s kingdom there, the Beloved Community, as Dr. King described it: One human family; united under one God, albeit understood and worshiped differently by us; animated and empowered by the spirit of God for the works of love, doing only good to others, regardless of color, religion, country of origin.
Daily, people of faith, among others, are working for just this kind of community in Springfield, Greene County and on earth. In the fierce urgency of the now, please join us in this holy work
