Commentary:
Martin Luther King's words today February is Black History Month
By Keith Larson
One of my favorite things to do on the Martin Luther
King holiday is listen to and read the speeches, letters,
and sermons of this great American. His eloquence
and power to arouse people into action are just what
I need on a cold winter night in Maine.
I
am always amazed at the current relevance of his words.
Like the words of Jesus the words of truth reach beyond
the place and time they were spoken. In 1967 he saw
a society were things and computers were more important
than people.
"We must rapidly begin the shift from a 'thing-oriented'
society to a 'people-oriented society. When machines
and computers, profit motives and property rights
are considered more important than people, the giant
triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are
incapable to being conquered..." 1967 "Beyond
Vietnam" speech
Today how many of us in this country spend more time
dealing with these machines called computers than
we do people. We are being asked now to change the
nature of Social Security from the safety net it was
designed for into a personal retirement account to
invest and become "owners" through mutual
funds and stocks. If we are more invested in the system
we are less likely to question what big corporations
do if we personally get a bit of the profit. (If we
are personally getting a bit of the profit, being
more invested in the system, we are less likely to
question the actions of large corporations.)
Martin Luther King spoke in 1963 from Birmingham Jail
about how we are all interconnected.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects
one directly, affects all indirectly."
The suffering, and injustice we see today is not only
in our neighboring states, but our neighboring countries
around the world. The violence we are able to witness
on television and the internet today is not Selma
or Birmingham, But in Sudan, and Fallujah where innocent
children are driven out and their homes(,) destroyed
because of their race or just proximity to violent
characters.
He goes on in his letter from the Birmingham Jail
to lay out the steps for action.
"In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic
steps: collection of the facts to determine whether
injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification;
and direct action."
We have an immense need to collect the facts and determine
where the injustices of the world exist. We can find
the truth about situations in the world if we look
hard. We will not be given all we need to know by
the television, and the mainstream press, as the recent
Armstrong Williams payola scandal shows us. But at
this exciting time in history our access to a wealth
of viewpoints, and often even first person accounts
of events are often just clicks away.
As Reverend King went to all of the cities where he
felt the need exists we can send our independent emissaries
and listen to what they have to say.
I hear a call in Martin's words for us to stand up
to injustice and be ever vigilant. When I look around
me today I see issues of great importance everywhere.
We must speak out against the torture of any human
being anywhere, whether at the calling of a brutal
dictator or the hands of an American soldier. Whether
we just define it as Prisoner abuse that is occurring
in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo or the county jail must
be opposed. We must protect and defend the captured
and imprisoned. Our constitution makes it clear that
cruel and unusual punishment is wrong and illegal.
Yet, even now our president has nominated a man that
believes the Geneva Conventions, agreed to by the
world's governments regarding people captured during
war, are "quaint" documents that the president
needn't follow anymore. If we allow Alberto Gonzales
to be the next U.S. Attorney General what will happen
to our constitutionally guaranteed rights? What will
happen to those already imprisoned without being tried
under the Patriot Act?
The message of Martin Luther King Jr. is not only
a message of hope for today, but a prescription for
a more just and peaceful world.
"I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere
flotsam and jetsam in the river of life unable to
influence the unfolding events which surround him.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically
bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that
the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never
become a reality.
I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation
after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway
into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe
that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have
the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily
defeated is stronger than evil triumphant."
"Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech 1964"
Our President tells us the world has changed since
9/11/2001. He says, that terrorists should make us
afraid, because they might bomb us. He says that we
need to allow the government to fight terror around
the globe with weapons, and war. Martin Luther King
stood up to terrorists who bombed his family, and
churches in the south. He stood up with nonviolence
to the injustices he saw, whether they were the societal
wrongs of racism and hate, or the governmental wrongs
of the Vietnam War. It's amazing to me not how much
the world has changed since the 1960's, but how much
it hasn't. Martin's words are still powerful, and
his message is still clear.
We can work together to keep hope alive. Read the
words of MLK
"I am convinced that love is the most durable
power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical
idealism, but of practical realism. Far from being
the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is
an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization.
To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify
the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must
have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the
chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done
through love.
I
am always amazed at the current relevance of his words.
Like the words of Jesus the words of truth reach beyond
the place and time they were spoken. In 1967 he saw
a society were things and computers were more important
than people.