Beyond Race: 8 Other Important Lessons from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
By: Kevin Mathews
- January 17, 2016
Editor’s
note: This post is a Care2 Favorite. It was originally published on
January 21, 2013. Enjoy.
Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. will always be remembered for his leadership
in the crusade for racial equality. And while that plight alone
would be worthy of several holidays, the truth is that Dr. King’s
calls for justice went well beyond skin color. Those who use MLK Day
merely as an opportunity to pat themselves on the back for the
racial progress this country has made are missing the larger
picture. Yes, we have an African American president, but King’s
work is still far from done. To honor King’s legacy today, let’s
reflect on some of the less-remembered lessons he shared:
1. Realize
That Laws Don’t Always Equal Justice
Time
and time again, King saw how a country’s laws could be flat out
wrong. He urged others to question the justice in laws and not
blindly adhere to them just because the powers that be say it is so.
“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just
laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust
laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no
law at all,’” King said in “Letter
from a Birmingham Jail”.
2. Question
Capitalism
King
spent a lot of time pondering the economic system. He acknowledged
that there are no easy answers in his speech “Where
Do We Go from Here?”:
“Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets
that life is social. And the kingdom of brotherhood is found [in]
neither… but in a higher synthesis.” In a
letter to his soon-to-be-wife, Coretta Scott,
he wrote, “I am not so opposed to capitalism that I have failed to
see its relative merits. It started out with a noble and high
motive… but like most human system it [fell] victim to the very
thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has outlived its
usefulness. It has brought a system that takes necessities from the
masses to give luxuries to the classes.” With wealth disparity
only compounding today, it is still relevant to question capitalism
and keeping searching for better solutions.
3. Do Not Affiliate with a Political Party
It’s
not fair to say that King disengaged from the political process –
he was an avid voter and worked alongside various political leaders
when they helped further the pursuit of equality. However,
King declined
to give his allegiance to either the Democrats or Republicans.
“I feel that someone must remain in the position of nonalignment,
so that he can look objectively at both parties and be the conscience
of both – not the servant or master of either,” he said. Seeing
the faults of both sides, King chose to work both inside and outside
of the political system to accomplish progress rather than settling
for the lesser of two evils.
4. Vocally
Oppose War
Before
reading King’s speech “Remaining
Awake through a Great Revolution,”
I wouldn’t have guessed that the term “military-industrial
complex” existed all the way back in 1968. But even during the
Vietnam War era, people were well aware of the corporate profiteering
was a main motivation in waging war. King pointed out that the U.S.
military spent half a million dollars for every Vietnam solider it
killed, while only spending $53 on each American living in poverty
annually. In addition to pointing out these faulty priorities (which
continue today), he warned that playing with nuclear warfare would
lead to mutual destruction: “It is no longer a choice, my friends,
between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or
nonexistence.”
5. Support
Unions
6. Foster
Critical Thinking in Our Schools
In
his article “The
Purpose of Education,” King
worried whether the educational system was failing. He wrote, “To
think incisively and to think for one’s self is very difficult. We
are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half
truths, prejudices, and propaganda. At this point, I often wonder
whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority
of the so-called educated people do not think logically and
scientifically… To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my
opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable
one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false,
the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.”
Considering that many schools today value instructing what to think
rather than how to think, this battle for promoting critical thinking
is ongoing.
7.
Provide Free/Affordable Access to Health Care
“Of
all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most
shocking and inhumane,” King declared in
a 1966 speech.
He hoped that in revealing the inequalities in treatment options for
people of different races, genders and class, the disparities could
be overcome. The fact that aiding the sick and dying – without
either forcing them into poverty or outright denying care – is
still up for debate is nothing short of a tragedy.
- Commit to Non-Violence
In
his essay “The
Power of Non-Violence,” King
explained the struggle in convincing his allies to resist the urge to
fight back against violent oppression. “It is not a method of
stagnant passivity and deadening complacency… This method is
nonaggressive physically but strongly aggressive spiritually.”
Though turning the other cheek takes restraint, King believed that
the side that is seen to suffer for its cause is more easily viewed
as righteous. He also knew that violence would not ultimately bring
about positive change: “The aftermath of violence is bitterness.
The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation and the creation of a
beloved community.”
————-
Although
the United States has certainly made major (but hardly complete)
strides in overcoming racism since King’s time, most of the other
justices he spoke out against are still as problematic as ever – if
not more so. Let us commemorate today by remembering that Dr. Martin
Luther King would not consider his campaign for change complete –
and, therefore, neither should we.
Photo
Credit: Library
of Congress
Zie ook:
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'NAVO, het grootste militaire verbond maakt zich schuldig aan grootschalige terreur i.p.v. de vrede te bewaren' (o.a. geluidsfragmenten met het protest van King tegen de oorlog in Vietnam)
'Thomas Merton >> een kritische rk geestelijke vermoord in hetzelfde jaar als Robert F. Kennedy en Martin Luther King'
'Fred Hampton 30 augustus 1948 – 4 december 1969 >> mensenrechtenactivist vermoord door FBI en Chicago politie'
'Martin Luther King: de moord van 50 jaar geleden door de VS overheid uiterst beperkt herdacht'
'Martin Luther King jr. vermoord door de overheid, aldus rechter........'
'De langzame moord op de ideeën van Martin Luther King................. Ofwel: Dr. Martin Luther Kings lessen willens en wetens verzwegen....'
'De oorlog tegen het arme deel van de VS bevolking'
'Paul Scheffer, het media-orakel met een 'vlijmscherpe analyse' over het racistische optreden van de politie in de VS......... AUW!!!'
'Willem Post over de zegeningen van het zero tolerance beleid in de VS en ach, het is misschien ietsje doorgeschoten.......'
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