Those who believe there is a right and wrong time and place to protest injustices are those whose privilege keeps them from the injustices. Those who with Rev. Dr. M.L. King, Jr., live by the principle that the right time to do the right thing is now, privileged or not, remind us of the immorality of acquiescence, apathy, indifference, denial, negligence, and procrastination in confronting injustice and evil.

What we need to believe, and teach our children to believe, is that there is never a wrong time or wrong place to oppose injustice. The time is always now to oppose injustice and promote the equality of worth for all peoples.

To refuse to be brave for the sake of others is to live a selfish life which promotes the values of safety, comfort, and security above compassion, peace, and justice. It is to value power over freedom and injustice over equality.

I’d rather die at the hands of oppressors than live in the complacency of watching others denied the very rights I get to take for granted. Both lifestyles reflect a certain kind of character, but only the former is based in ethical integrity and is one that I can admire and respect.

Is this not what the founders of the world’s religions taught us? Is it not the Golden Rule? To risk danger to oneself for the sake of another is to love as we want to be loved. Wishing others well while refusing to help is not what we’d respect in others, so how can we respect such behavior in ourselves?

Our virtues and core values have to apply at all times and all places, else they are not really our virtues and values. Integrity is not conditional, and decency is not whimsical.
Now is always the time to act on behalf of those suffering from injustices, for now is when we’d want them to act on our behalf if the situation was reversed.

— Rev. Bret S. Myers, 9/26/2017