(Lights dim, crowd hushes. MLK steps to the podium, adjusts his tie like he's about to part the Red Sea again, then leans in with that deep, resonant voice.)
“My brothers and sisters — and yes, my Jewish cousins in the struggle — hear me now!
We have come this far by faith, leaning on the everlasting arms of justice! And this week, the Torah portion — oh, Parashat Mishpatim! — it don’t come playin’! No sweet poetry, no manna from heaven. No! Right after the fireworks at Sinai, God drops the fine print. The case law! The bylaws of heaven! And let me tell you, it’s got some things to say to America in 196-whatever-this-is!
First off — the stranger! ‘You shall not oppress the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt!’ (Exodus 22:21) Thirty-six times the Torah screams this — thirty-six! That’s not a suggestion, that’s a divine restraining order! We were slaves, y’all! We know the whip, we know the chain, we know what it feels like when Pharaoh’s boot is on your neck and the overseer says, ‘Pick more cotton — or else!’ And now? Now some folks wanna build walls higher than Sinai, lock the gates, and say, ‘Sorry, stranger — no room at the inn!’
I say to them — Pharaoh tried that! And we all know how that ended! Plagues! Frogs in the bed! Rivers of blood! I don’t want no frogs in nobody’s bed, but if we keep treating the immigrant, the refugee, the tired, the poor, the huddled masses like they’re the enemy — mark my words, the Almighty’s got receipts! He remembers Egypt! And He’s taking notes!
(Dramatic pause, wipes brow theatrically.)
And then — oh Lord have mercy — the slavery laws! Six years you serve, seventh year you go free! Not ‘maybe free.’ Not ‘free if you behave.’ No — free! And not empty-handed! Give him a goat, some grain, a little wine — send him out with dignity! That’s God’s minimum wage package!
But America? We didn’t read the memo! We kept ‘em four hundred years — four centuries of unpaid labor, broken families, auction blocks! Emancipation came, praise God, but where was the goat? Where was the land? Where was the forty acres and a mule? We got Jim Crow instead! Sharecropping! Redlining! The manacle traded for the mortgage denial! Systemic — that’s what they call it now — but I call it sin dressed up in a three-piece suit!
I’ve been to the mountaintop, I’ve seen the Promised Land! But let me tell you something funny — tragic-funny — we still got Pharaohs in pinstripes sittin’ in boardrooms, sayin’, ‘Let my people — wait, not yet, we need cheaper labor!’ And overseers in badges, and judges with gavels heavier than Pharaoh’s heart!
But hear me! Mishpatim ain’t just rules — it’s a revolution blueprint! Eye for eye? Not vengeance — justice! Make the victim whole! Tooth for tooth? Balance the scales! No more ‘turn the other cheek’ while they knock out the first one and charge you for the dental bill!
So rise up, America! Free the stranger in your heart! Free the slave still chained by poverty and prejudice! Give ‘em their seventh year — their dignity, their vote, their fair shot! Because if we don’t — if we keep diggin’ pits and leavin’ ‘em uncovered for our neighbor’s ox to fall in — guess who’s payin’ restitution? We are! The whole nation!
I may not get there with you — (dramatic hand to chest, eyes to heaven, crowd gasps, then laughs as he winks) — but I’ve seen it! Justice rollin’ down like waters! Righteousness like a mighty stream! And maybe — just maybe — a little reparations barbecue on the side!
Let freedom ring — from the slave quarters to the suburbs! From the border wall to the White House lawn! Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty — and Mishpatim — we free at last!
