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The Arabic phrase - بارك الله امريكا - or "bark allah 'amrika" - translates literally to "God bless America," a song and sentiment unrestrained by notions of ethnicity, creed, or culture. Though in recency it has edged into a rallying cry of the right, if ever there was a time to reclaim its universal appeal to a power even higher than the governments of men, it is now.
Irving Berlin famously changed his original lyrics to "God Bless America" calling on God to guide America "to the right" to avoid any confusion with the political right -- asking instead for aid "through the night." And though that night may be upon us, the star and crescent embody the proverbial "light from above," as well as the union of Islam and traditional American patriotism, beyond any parochial notion of either, and a call to solidarity: as Americans, we can and must do better.
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Didn't vote for him? You and 256 million other Americans. The quintessential hashtag of the '16 cycle that promises to resonate as powerfully over the next four years as it has in the aftermath of election day. We won't wear out -- and neither will our protest's refrain.
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"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." And so we live in MLK's legacy -- as the pestilence of prejudice finds its footholds, so must we find our voices. For if ever there was a doubt as to the unreason of racism, it is this simple truth: that out of Africa and into the streets, not one among humanity can trace our taproots anywhere else.
And so when the disengenues cry afoul to the chants of BLM that "All lives matter!" as if to invoke some enlightened salve, then we may declaim that if that was indeed their credo, then to defend all lives would begin with where all life began. So long as those among us who trace more modern roots to the source suffer the un-breaths of injustice, those with more distant ties might yet hear the voice of our common ancestor still latent within, screaming, that so long as even one among us remains subject to oppression, so do we all.
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