To a man brave enough to let his heart lead his life, even death will not be the end of his love.
It would be a great dishonor to frame the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. merely in terms of black and white. One who advocates for social justice can not do so with any real sincerity if the search for equality and dignity is confined merely to any specific sector or group and denied to everyone else. That immoral imbalance is precisely the problem he and other civil rights leaders were attempting to abolish. His vision was not just that blacks could be free to live among whites with the same freedoms and opportunities, but that poor people of all colors and in all nations be given the means to lift themselves out of their aggravating poverty.
I grew up here in California during the 90’s and there was always much fanfare over his marching in the streets to end segregation in the South, but when I visited the MLK Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, GA. I was surprised to find that he was also one of the most vocal anti-war speakers in the nation at the time of his death. They certainly hadn’t mentioned this in the white-washed schools that I attended. Nor did they mention that white cops greeted the black protesters with constant verbal harassment, baton beatings, and brutal attack dogs. Obviously the school’s administration wanted children to know the fact that MLK Jr. was a great American. Also obviously they wanted children to know the fact that the United States military and police powers were a force for freedom and good in the world… except that in this case they were neither. And they still aren’t today to the extent that they fuel unnecessary conflict outside our borders and over-broad censorship within.
He called the Vietnam war a “demonic destructive suction tube” that eats up time, money, and lives, while obliterating social welfare programs for the poor. With an increasingly disproportionate population of blacks being drafted, many were becoming militant resisters to their own exploitation. Convinced that this growing bitterness and hatred would only breed more of the same, he was strongly opposed to the use of any violence to achieve social equality. But if he were opposed even to the mere act of a few blacks arming themselves with guns, how could he not first oppose the tens of thousands of Americans being armed with all sorts of weapons, killing men, women, and children, and burning entire villages down on the other side of the world? His commitment to non-violence led him to believe that the war was poisoning the soul of the country and destroying the only hope for a peaceful future. His commitment to Christianity led him to believe that both capitalists and communists deserved to live since they were all equal in the eyes of God– a lesson still perpetually unlearned by any American president past or present.
To advocate for social justice means to root out oppression in all its forms and to address the systemic causes of inequality. In other words, you can not address racism within our borders without looking at the overarching racism that our government also perpetrates outwardly towards people in other countries.
If he were alive today, what would he have to say about the war in Iraq? We still spend more money on war than anything else. Our country is still haunted by racism, within and without.
Here are his words regarding the war in Vietnam:
A year after this powerful speech against state-sponsored violence, he was gunned down outside a motel in Tennessee. The culture of violence is not tolerant of criticism, and predictably responds to any perceived threat with yet more violence. This sad fact is counterbalanced somewhat by the observation that although bullets can take a life, they can not take away our reason for living. The voices of everyone who has tried to create a better world live on in the hearts and minds of those able to listen.
Words are bulletproof.