Martin Luther King Day

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“[A] warless world, a better distribution of wealth, and a brotherhood that transcends race or color. This is the gospel that I will preach to the world.” 

 

—Martin Luther King Jr. in a letter to Coretta Scott, July 1952


Yesterday we celebrated the life and, unfortunately, the violent death of Martin Luther King, Jr.  What we seem to have forgotten is the vision he had of a better America.  Dr. King’s larger vision was an America free from the scourges of racism, violence and poverty.  He realized that the means to this end were just as important as the ends.  They were the opposites – nonviolence, solidarity, and an appeal to all Americans to believe in the political ideals and moral values on which this country was founded.

Like another great American at a time of national crisis, Dr King appealed to “the better angels of our nature.”  And in some ways, this has happened.  We are a more tolerant society than we were in 1968.  But there has been an ongoing political backlash, fueled by a rhetoric of fear, anger and hate.  Reverend King would be appalled that a national political leader would overlay the crosshairs of a rifle scope on pictures of political opponents.

Like his father, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister.  “We Shall Overcome” was adapted from a popular hymn.  At its roots, the civil rights movement was based on the teachings of another preacher who spoke out against the brutal and oppressive Roman regime in the
province of Judea. He added to the cries of earlier prophets for justice and mercy a new message of love, hope and compassion for the poor.

But I think Martin Luther King would be heartened by another development.  As in Tunisia recently, people have organized and taken to the streets to nonviolently protest their oppressive governments.  How could anyone in 1968 have predicted Nelson Mandela, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, the Tiananmen Square protesters, Aung San Suu Kyi and millions of others who had the courage to defy their violent governments?  Not all succeeded.  But, unexpectedly, many did.  

For those who stand up for a more peaceful and just world, even when they fail, they can take heart from the words “Deep in my heart, I do believe, We shall overcome someday.”

Written on January 16, 2017


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