Make the M.L.K. Jr. Holiday count
21st January 2014 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
How do you plan to spend the Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday?
Reading a good book that you haven’t been able to find the time to read? Taking your kids to the mall or to the movies? Catching one of the “King Day” blockbuster sales at a furniture store or car dealership? Taking your children or grandchildren to the library or a bookstore in search of books about the Black experience? Helping an elderly loved one or neighbor to run errands or complete some other task? Watching a film like The Butler, Fruitvale Station or 12 Years A Slave? Attending one of the city’s many MLK Jr. commemorative programs?
While there is no one right way to spend the holiday, most of those with knowledge of the history of struggle that preceded the MLK National Holiday will tell you that it represents the culmination of a long, protracted struggle for freedom and equality that began when Africans first arrived in the original 13 colonies and continues to this very day.
The Black experience in America encompasses the Middle Passage, the auction block and a wide-ranging spectrum of events and developments that include but are not limited to the Amistad revolt, the Harper’s Ferry uprising, the creation and growth of the Underground Railroad, the Black Codes, the 1811 slave revolt, the origin of Congo Square, the creation of jazz, the Tuskegee Experiment, Plessy v. Ferguson, the establishment of the NAACP, the origin of The North Star, Brown v. The Board of Education, the March on Washington, the exportation of Marcus Garvey, the assassination of Malcolm X, the rise of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the military exploits of the Tuskegee Airmen, the creation of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the creation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference the Million Man March and the election of the nation’s first Black president.
All of these developments played a critical role in shaping who we are as a people today and where we stand on the road to achieving self-determination.
As the defendants of a proud, mighty people who refused to die after they were dragged to these shores and treated like cattle, we have a responsibility to learn the stories of those who came before us and to pass on those stories to the young and those yet to come.
As has often been said, from those to whom much has been given, much is expected. While some may view the descendants of enslaved Africans in America as “the wretched of the earth,” we have an rich, ennobling legacy as the progeny of the first people on the planet who sprang from the cradle of humanity to take their rightful place as children of the Most High.
As we pause to remember Martin Luther King Jr., let us also remember all of the nameless, faceless ancestors whose sacrifices, resilience and heroic actions made our existence possible. By honoring King, who has joined them in the Village of the Ancestors, we honor their memory and the invaluable contributions they made.
While our ancestors were robbed of their names and languages and snatched out of history by their oppressors, they carried across the Atlantic Ocean with them an unrelenting thirst for freedom, courage, a recognition that the Creator has the final say in all that transpires on the planet and an unshakeable faith that things will be better “by and by.”
On MLK Day, let us remember all of the freedom fighters who gave us shining examples of Black manhood and womanhood, including Malcolm X, Steve Biko, Martin Delaney, Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, Sojourner Truth, Queen Mother Moore, Harriet Tubman, Denmark Vesey, Nat Turner, Charles Deslondes, Kwame Toure, Huey P, Newton, Marcus Garvey and A. Phillip Randolph.
Let us invoke their spirits of freedom, courage, wisdom and strength as we recommit ourselves to fighting racism, sexism, classism, ageism, nihilism, materialism, nepotism and a host of other isms that threaten our very existence. Let us harness our forebears’ energy and determination as we do battle with poverty, hunger, hopelessness, homelessness, illiteracy, police brutality, discrimination and racial injustice.
We don’t have a lot of time to play around. We need to establish independent Black institutions capable of meeting the needs of Black people in the U.S. We need to create and support Black educational institutions and religious institutions that are committed to empowering, uplifting and liberating communities of color. We need courageous, visionary leaders who are African-centered and understand that the Creator is the source and aim of all life.
We need to remember that over the course of this nation’s tumultuous history, all we have had is us. And for the most part, that has been enough. Finally, we need to remember that I am because we are.
So I ask you again: How are you planning to celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday?
This article originally published in the January 20, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
