Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Remembered
Martin Luther King, Jr. (February 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) got dragged into the political arena recently, but today we must stop to remember a great man, a man who used the force of his moral authority to push a reluctant nation toward a new day, when the color of one's skin no longer determined one's future. We still have a ways to go -- not just regarding African Americans, but all people of color, people of varying religions and creeds -- before Martin Luther King's dream is fulfilled.
That day in April of 1968, when an assassins bullet struck him down in the prime of life, America lost a great leader, but by remembering him today and next Monday (Martin Luther King Day) we keep the hope alive.
As you consider his life and his legacy, listen to this important speech, one that set forth a dream for America.
Comments
Bob, this expat can't thank you enough for your post.
With gratitude for your ministry,
Kim
I am glad that you found this a moving experience. This is a powerful statement of hope for the future -- a hope we still must dream about so that we can see it become a reality.
For me, there were other speeches by King that were far more memorable: the funeral sermon for the 4 slain black girls in Birmingham (just weeks after the Dream Speech), his Beyond Vietnam Speech on 04 April 1967 at Riverside Church and his I've Been to the Mountaintop speech the night before he was murdered.
I don't want to diminish the dream speech, but I think it has become pre-packaged and commercialized in the years since King's death to tame him as "the Dreamer." The real King was a radical. The Dream Speech does nothing to show why J. Edgar Hoover considered King "the most dangerous Negro in America."
We have to see beyond the dream speech. That is why I argue that the most important of King's writings for us today is Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? which was the last book he wrote prior to his death. That's where he talks about a revolution of values away from a thing oriented to a person oriented society.