Who knew that President Lyndon Johnson was a champion of civity!?!?
During much of the pandemic I’ve been living in Arlington, Virginia. Early of a summer morning, before the heat of the day begins to rise, I often bike along the Potomac River. I pass by geese and goslings along with a few ducks, and I occasionally sight a heron or a (very large!) turtle. The cottonwoods, willows, redbuds, and other trees arch overhead – and their roots create speed bump ridges that keep me at a leisurely pace.
The LBJ Memorial Grove has become my favorite morning destination. A living memorial to President Johnson, it consists of a generous swath of grass and trees between the Potomac and the Boundary Channel. A flagstone spiral sweeps through the grove, curling inward to an imposing and rugged hunk of Texas pink marble that stands upright – facing the Washington Monument across the water.
On the north side, the side that faces Washington, a quote is inscribed in the same pink marble. Days after the March from Selma to Montgomery, President Johnson voiced support for the legislation that would become the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with these words: “The promise of America is a simple promise. Every person shall share in the blessings of this land.”
“The promise of America…”
“Every person shall share….”
“The blessings of this land.”
I appreciate, every time I read these words, the echo of Dr. Martin Luther King’s language about America having issued a promissory note. I appreciate the use of the word “share” to evoke a vision of how we all might be in relationship with each other. And I appreciate how “blessings” reminds us that the conditions for our happiness and welfare are gifts rather than guarantees.
Most of all, I appreciate the words “every person.” These two flat, ordinary words draw no lines; they create no categories.
It is because of these two words that the message of this quote, of this promise, sounds in belonging.
“Sounds in” is a legal expression used to designate the overall body of law that supports a particular claim. “Sounds in” describes the legal root, the reach into a deep reservoir of understanding of how people are to be with each other. “Sounds in” is like the sonar that plumbs the depths of the ocean floor.
“Sounds in” reflects an awareness that individual actions or statements conjure an entire system of understanding.
I find myself circling back again and again to this quote from the nation’s 36th president.
Every time I read it, it strikes me that this quote’s message – sounding in belonging – is in stark opposition to so many of the messages we hear today.
So many of today’s messages sound in fear. Messages that sound in fear caution us against embracing people we encounter as “other;” they warn us not to see, not to empathize with, not to treat “those people” with decency.
Messages that sound in fear draw lines and create categories. These messages keep us from reaching out to each other, working in collaboration, or building a future together. Messages that sound in fear warn us that our own belonging is contingent; that we need to toe the line to make the cut.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, in his 2020 book Together, quotes international peacebuilder John Paul Lederach: “The challenge of the remainder of our century is how are we as a global family going to attend to the basic fundamentals of creating the right of belonging?”
Lederach’s challenge applies at home as well as abroad: How are we as a national family going to attend to the basic fundamentals of creating the right of belonging?
Yet the sense of President Johnson’s words is less the creation of belonging than the recognition and revelation of belonging. People belong simply by virtue of being here in this place. Our lives are all intertwined.
We do not need to construct belonging. We do need to acknowledge and practice it.
The practice of civity reminds us, relationally, that “We” extends across lines and across categories to reach all of “Us.” We All Belong.
Every person. Shall share. In the blessings of this land.
This promise lies at the core, in the depths.
Belonging is.