On this day we commemorate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Take a moment to read about who Dr. King was and what he really stood for in his time that profoundly altered history. Many today would like to link the current black radical resistance movements to Dr. Kings’ work. He was for racial equality across economic and social lines, yes, but his platform was Christian and non-violent. “We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.”
He was a Christian first and foremost. He never promulgated violence to achieve equality. Seeking equality was radical to be sure, but the platform from which he sought such equality was Christian and nonviolent. Do not be deceived that the radical black resistance groups that have risen in our culture today are connected to the King legacy. Remember, he was a Christian Pastor who stood on Christian principles. End of story.
As America stands on the threshold of a new administration we face much racial and cultural division that has been fueled over the past eight years. Pray without ceasing that God will continue to keep His hand on this country and bring unity that will once again honor Him first. May we have the heart of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to, “ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.”
“But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone .…I have a dream that every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together…when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.’”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Taken from His ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech, Delivered on the Steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., August 23, 1963
“It may well be that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition is not the glaring noisiness of the so-called bad people, but the appalling silence of the so-called good people.” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
