Nehemiah Rong
On January 15, 1929 Martin Luther King, Jr was born to a family of Mike King Sr. and Alberta Christine in Atlanta, Georgia. On 15 December 1964 Dr.Luther King, Jr. received Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts towards racial peace and unity. On 4 April 1968 he was assassinated in Memphis, just after the night he delivered his ‘Mountaintop’ speech. Since childhood Martin loved books. To Martin, books were untiring teacher with amazing amount of knowledge. Little Martin was a paper boy of Atlanta Journal and with his little earnings he started buying books.
Martin as a young boy tried to mingle with the white friends. Once he went to his friend’s place. His friend’s mother stopped him from entering their house on racial ground. That early experience impacted Dr. King since early enough about the racial difference and the pain felt. It might have convinced him to do something about it.
In another instance Martin learnt an unpleasant and unforgettable lesson when a police officer called his father ‘a boy’ while they were returning from shopping that made him to work with his father to put an end a terrible system of racial discrimination.
Martin was a very bright and brilliant student. He was three years ahead of his classmates. He graduated from Morehouse College when he was nineteen. He earned his master degree from Crozer Theological Seminary and obtained his doctorate from Boston College in systematic theology.
Dr.King could perceive the similarity between the caste system in India and the Jim Crow system of South. That made Dr.King and alongwith with his wife to take a journey to India in 1959 to study Gandhi’s March technique of non-violence as guest of Jawahar Lal Nehru. He believed that if non-violent resistance could work to break down the caste system in India, it could work to break down segregation in the South.
Dr.King strongly believed in the human worth and dignity beyond color and riches. In his famous speech, ‘I Have a Dream’ he said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
On account of the true revolution Dr.King in his speech, “Beyond Vietnam—A Time to Break Silence, he commented “A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many our past and present policies. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, ‘This way of setting differences is not just.’” He goes on to say ‘True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.’
Dr.King reminded the world that rioting will not find answer to address the problems for any struggling movement. He said, ‘The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.’ At the same time Dr.King also warned the nation which sole aim is on military might. He stated thus, ‘A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.’
To the church this what he says, ‘The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.’
As the world entered to this 21st century, it is witnessing more bloodsheds and violence everywhere ever than before. The suicide bombing attacks, the ethnic killings, the college and school shootings, factional fights, planting of landmines etc... etc. have griped and traumatized the minds of common people. The continual state structural violence, militarization and forced subjugation continue to suppress the rights of suffering and struggling people. The atrocities, human rights violations, racial discriminations, poverty seem to wreak havoc world citizen.
As such situation when the world is burning in cauldron of violence and counter violence, it needs something, someone to give them a hope of better life, better situation, better opportunity where peace, fairness and justice become the world order and the war and oppression end. As the world needs to bridge the wide gap between rich and poor, it needs to change its restructure an edifice which produces beggars.
Dr.King was born seventy nine years ago. He had given his best to humanity most importantly for American Black and Civil Rights. His faith was translated to reality by leading the Black in America to secure their rights and at the same questioning the world order with deep conviction of human worth and dignity. ‘Non-violence’ being the tool to fight against the mighty government spared not Dr.King from the physical harassments and several imprisonments. However, his life and his charismatic leadership with strong conviction and upright character gave the world a hope in the power of non-violence movement.
Today the world not only needs to remember the works, words and life of Dr.King just to praise him but to question where the world is heading for today? What it needs to do to build a better society? What is the answer to the society degeneration and degradation? As a nation, does it spend more money on military or social welfare measures? As a revolutionary groups(s) has got a tender heart for the poor and inflicted public? As a church, does it stand as a guide and being relevant in the fast changing and violent society?
He feared not the violent. He was a bold leader. A Christian minister and civil rights champion. He dared to dream that one his children and children’s children will have a better opportunity in life to live in. He lived not for himself but for the generation to come. He sowed the seed of love and peace. He combined his faith with his love for his people and humanity. He shunned violence and hatred. ‘I may not get there (Promised Land) with you, but I want you to know, tonight that we as a people will get to Promised Land! So I’m happy tonight, I’m not worried about anything! I am not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Dr.King said in his last speech.
Let me conclude this humble piece with words from Dr. King again, “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
