Living and breathing King
16th January 2018 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
This Monday, January 15, 2018, would have been the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 89th birthday. Nearly 50 years after his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, we continue to feel the loss his death represents as we look back at the many contributions he made to the ongoing struggle for freedom and justice in the U.S. and worldwide.
We pause every year to celebrate his birthday but more importantly we pause to reflect on his contributions, sacrifices, courage, intellect and the sterling example Dr. King set for all of us.
Not only did he show us how to be a leader but what it takes to lead in perilous times and how to live buoyed by the courage of our convictions. He taught us how to stand “bloody but unbowed” in the path of corrupt and absolute power and refuse to accept second- or third-class citizenship and status. He personified the courage, dignity, strength, wisdom, resilience and grace of the great-grandsons and great-granddaughters of enslaved Africans.
He had an insatiable hunger for knowledge, having enrolled at Morehouse College at the age of 15 and soaking up the wisdom, vision and insight of one of his greatest mentors, Morehouse President Dr. Benjamin E. Mays.
At a relatively young age, he came to understand that true character, not material wealth or social status, was the ultimate goal of education.
He didn’t pursue post-graduate degrees and other honors so that he could buy the largest home on his block or the most expensive car. Nor did he pursue higher education to outpace his peers or impress others. He did so because he knew that knowledge was an invaluable tool needed to uplift an oppressed people who were less than a century removed from slavery when he launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955.
While the historic Civil Rights Movement sparked change in America, many of the same issues that existed in the mid-20th century continue to plague this nation and threaten the future of Black, Brown and poor Americans. Among these issues are income inequality, economic injustice, unconstitutional policing, voter suppression, housing discrimination, educational apartheid, unfair sentencing laws, prosecutorial misconduct, taxation without representation, gender inequality, inadequate health care and domestic terrorism.
President Donald Trump’s use of the word “shithole” to refer to Haiti and African nations certainly underscores blatant discrimination Black immigrants continue to face in the 21st century. While immigrants of color have been treated differently than white immigrants for as long as anyone can remember, Trump’s comments did little to build a better relationship between African nations and the U.S. at a time when Trump has alienated many of the nation’s traditional allies in the global community.
Were he still with us, King would make it clear that global white supremacy is still a major problem in the 21st century and that many Western powers continue to blackball and vilify the Republic of Haiti for having the audacity to fight for and gain its independence.
Rather than attend a single MLK Day event or perform a single act of community service, we must honor Dr. King and others like Ida B. Wells, Dr. Mary McCleod Bethune, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Queen Mother Moore, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, John Henrik Clarke, Martin Delany, Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing, Medgar Evers and Bishop Henry McNeal Turner by the way we live our lives and relate to one another daily.
We can’t continue to mistreat, abuse, exploit, betray and undermine one another in the community, in the workplace, in our families, houses of worship, educational institutions and the political sector the way our oppressors have for centuries.
We also can’t keep lying to ourselves and believing that there will be no repercussions in this life and the next one for our transgressions.
As Stevie Wonder and the late Curtis Mayfield often remind us in their music, “there’s no room for the hopeless sinner who will hurt all mankind just to save his own.”
It’s also high time that we stop toying around with the idea of leadership. We can’t continue to go around anointing ourselves leaders without paying the dues necessary to become authentic leaders.
You don’t just wake up one day and decide that you want to elevate yourself as a leader or think that posting comments on Facebook or Twitter makes you someone that the masses must follow.
We don’t need a cult of personality, or even a single leader, for that matter.
We need millions of dedicated workers and freedom fighters committed to doing whatever is necessary to secure freedom and justice for oppressed peoples around the world.
It’s time for our self-anointed leaders to stop tearing one another down and minimalizing the work of others in the struggle. When self-aggrandizement and egotism become the motivation for taking on a cause, we all suffer. We need to humble ourselves, be willing to follow and support others whose efforts need reinforcement and put aside petty differences in order to improve conditions for the masses of our people in the U.S. and across the global community.
May Dr. King, Malcolm X and all of the Beloved Ancestors give us the strength, inspiration, vision, resilience and courage we need to fight the good fight and do whatever is necessary to secure freedom and justice for all.
This article originally published in the January 15, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
