Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr. spoke at an event in Bratenahl last fall. My question to Dr. Moss concerned The Drum Major Instinct, a sermon by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I asked him how we can counter the growing social distrust and division in our nation and what are the lessons from Dr. King’s sermon?
Dr. Moss replied: “You are called to beautify the spaces you occupy.”
Considering the comments of some politicians about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, I can more fully appreciate what Dr. Moss meant. Dr. King sought to beautify the world and said, “I just want to leave a committed life behind: If I can help somebody as I pass along. If I can cheer somebody with a word or song…”
Dr. King suggested that we should be wary of trumpeting ourselves, getting out in front of the parade, and seeking notoriety. We should strive to do good — not to boost our own ego — but to give expression to our deepest desires: We should subordinate or sublimate any unfettered expression of the drum major instinct and instead devote ourselves to loving kindness in the world around us.
Dr. King said we should strive for a "soul generated by love." We should keep working for peace and for justice, while at the same time resisting what King called “that desire to be first,” the negative aspect of the drum major instinct.
True, part of King’s speech was a warning about a desire to “see your name in print.” And here I am revising for publication something I wrote last fall — to remind myself of advice a social work mentor gave me: “Be political, not politicized.” Another mentor said, “Don’t be the lone ranger.” Keep beating the drum but do not try to lead the parade.
Dr. King was not saying that we should not speak out. He said that white people like me should realize that our exploiters are the same ones who exploit African Americans, and that white people “ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march.”
As my white Pentecostal grandmother taught me about the suffering of the sharecroppers — black and white — who were part of the great migration to Cleveland that brought her and my father to Cleveland over one hundred years ago: “It wasn’t Christian the way black folk were treated.”
Dr. King said we should harness the drum major instinct, but not let it take us over: “I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.”
Dr. King’s sermon — and Dr. Moss’s interpretation — remain relevant to today’s struggles for reproductive rights, voting rights and for reducing lead poisoning, infant mortality, and child poverty.
They are also relevant to how we go about working for peace with justice and self-determination for Israel and Palestine, for an end to the Russia/Ukraine war, and for a just resolution to Israel’s conflict with Lebanon’s and Hezbollah. In doing so, the United States should support enforcing all relevant United Nations resolutions. The outcome must be safety, security, sovereignty, and an end to the constant suffering.
I write heartbroken by these wars and by the political attacks on Haitians in Springfield. But closer to home, I am thankful for the people of all political beliefs—including Governor Mike DeWine and Senator Sherrod Brown—who have defended Springfield. Clearly, we must find a way to build mutual tolerance and trust. Dr. King’s drum major instinct sermon and his beloved community sermon have lessons for how to overcome the terrible divisions our nation faces today.
• • •• • •
Michael A. Dover, PhD, LISW-S, a former journalist, is a social worker and sociologist who resides in Bratenahl.
