'EXEMPLARS OF JUSTICE'

"One of his [Benjamin Elijah Mays] most widely cited addresses, 'Democratizing and Christianizing America in this Generation,' given at Howard University's commencement in 1945, received accolades and praise from the general public and students alike. Mays told the students that they had a responsibility to challenge the antidemocratic forces in the United States. He believed this could be done 'without violence or revolution.' Why? Because the United States by virtue of the 'Federal Constitution and by virtue of its Christian pronouncements to become Christianized and democratized,' would rationally compel Americans to be just. To him, the country would have no other choice; if Americans were not just President Roosevelt's claims for the four freedom for all people in the world -- 'freedom of speech and expression,' 'freedom of every person to worship God,' 'freedom from want,' and 'freedom from fear'-- that justified World War II, would be declared duplicitous by the court of world opinion. This justice was vital for America to maintain 'integrity of soul' and avoid hypocrisy before other nations. He argued that the students' challenge in life was to make America true to its constitutional promise and to its religious foundations. The greater challenge, he said, was to live morally principled lives and to be committed to overturning the injustices. He told the graduating class of 1945 that the task before them was not just intellectual but 'ethical and moral.' Their generation's job was 'to make men good as well as intellectual.' He emphasized the importance of being responsible people. 'Representing a minority group as you do,' he proclaimed, 'you cannot afford to join the exploiting class, because you are the exploited... He who cries out against undemocratic principles should be democratic. We whine the loudest, and justly so, but for that reason alone, we must be exemplars of justice.' The students at Howard were not the only recipients of Mays's charge; Morehouse students were also frequently treated to the same sermonizing, challenging them to be social contributors, democratic citizens, and just Christian men."

p. 160, BENJAMIN ELIJAH MAYS: SCHOOLMASTER OF THE MOVEMENT, by Randal Maurice Jelks (2012)