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Commentary: A Place At The Table

Commentary: A Place At The Table

Last updated on: May 9, 2013 at 6:06 am by Faithful Democrats

Commentary: A Place At The Table 2013-05-09T06:06:59-06:00 Faithful Democrats

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It is that belief of the impossible becoming possible that has guided my steps as a public servant. It is the belief that we can build a society like Dr. King’s Beloved Community where we tend to the “least of these” and everyone has a seat at the table. There are those among us who will say those ideals and goals are just childish imaginings, full of little substance or reality.

But they’re wrong.

About one month before I graduated from seminary, my late grandfather visited me in a dream.

In my dream, a bell calls my extended family to dinner each night. For some reason, however, the table is not large enough to accommodate everyone. The chairs at the table are first-come, first-served and although I try my best, I am always too late finishing my chores to get there in time for a seat. I have to stand behind the other seated members of the family.

This happens at every dinner. Then, one day, my grandfather stands up at the head of the table. His strong voice rings out as he says, “I’m not sitting down until Acacia has a seat at the table.” Like the parting of the Red Sea, the family falls back — revealing me standing in the shadows. I slowly walk forward thinking that, finally, I have a seat at the table.

Nine years later, that dream still serves as a vivid reminder to me of what it means to be marginalized in a society and the redemptive power our community possesses when it creates parity and reciprocity for everyone.

I find myself thinking of that dream and my grandfather’s words more and more lately.

Maybe it is because as I get older, the memories of my grandparents, all of whom have passed away, get more precious to me. But I also think it has much to do with my most recent birthday. I turned 35 a few months ago, sharing that personal milestone with two historical ones: the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Sen. Barack Obama’s acceptance speech for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.

I am humbled to be even slightly associated with two amazing men whose visions for their country and their communities helped change our world. I can’t help but think, though, about two extraordinary women who nurtured me and fostered my own dreams and say a prayer filled with thanksgiving for their legacy.

Humble beginnings

My grandmothers, Blaunche and Pirtella, grew up in my hometown of Bamberg, S.C. Both came from humble beginnings. My Grandmother Blaunche was raised on a small farm in rural Bamberg County. Grandmother Pirtella was a sharecropper who worked in the cotton and cornfields.

They gave birth to 13 children between the two of them. Neither grandmother graduated from college, traveled to another country, or made much money. But as I look back to my childhood, I can only marvel at their hard work, their consistent sacrifice, and their unwavering faith in God. Their stories are interwoven into the fabric of the American story and show our diversity and our common ground.

That rich diversity can also be found in the African word “ubuntu,” which basically means a person is a person through other persons. Essentially, our very humanity is linked through our connection to others. So, it is not surprising to me that a young man, with a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, learned the power of ubuntu from his grandmother.

“She’s the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life,” said now President Obama. “She poured everything she had into me.”

Those words invoke images of my own grandmothers taking care of me and my cousins so our parents could work, or slipping crumpled dollar bills into my hand to help me with college, or heaping praise with beaming faces at whatever honors I achieved. Those memories still bring tears to my eyes.

Instilling personal dignity

Enduring the slings and arrows of the Jim Crow South, my grandmothers did not allow the forces of fear and hate to steal their hope. Instead, they instilled in their children and their grandchildren an inherent sense of personal dignity and worth and a belief that anything is possible.

But they’re wrong.

I am the granddaughter of sharecroppers. I graduated from college and graduate school. I work for Rep. James Clyburn, the third-highest ranking member in the U.S. Congress. I am the embodiment of the American dream, of the unwavering belief that the impossible can become possible.

And if my grandmothers could dream and achieve a better world for me, then surely we all can do the same for our children and grandchildren.

In that better world, no one stands and watches while others eat. All in the community work together for the common good. It is a place of parity, mutuality and reciprocity. It is an America where all young women and men have a chance to reach their dreams.

Everyone should have a seat at the table. We cannot sit down until everyone does.

*Salatti is a graduate of United Methodist-related Candler School of Theology, Atlanta. She serves as legislative assistant in the office of Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who is the majority whip, and she is the lead staffer for the Democratic Faith Working Group. This commentary first appeared in Faith in Action, the newsletter published by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.

This post originally appeared here: http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=1723955&ct=6770931

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