This is a time when there is a great deal of division. Those of us who are African Americans rejoiced in some civil rights gains in the sixties and seventies, and people like some of the folks in this room helped us to get some of those gains. We are watching them being taken away as we have seen affirmative action questioned seriously, and rather than fix it, we have just chosen to throw out the baby with the bath water. We see differences everywhere. It is interesting that we sang a song tonight in Spanish because here in Texas there is a major problem of the suppression of Spanish-speaking people, of Hispanic people.
Differences are a part of our time.
One may assume that gives us good reason for being pessimistic, but the good news is that, in the midst of all the signs of divisions, there are some signs of uniting. Tragically, we discovered she was murdered. Whether people knew each other or not, and whether people liked each other or not, they were galvanized around the concern for the return of little Laura Smithers. Crisis sometimes brings us together. That is the good news because I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ is really not an organized institution.