Let Us Not Forget a King - Martin Luther King Jr

“Non- violence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. Non violence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You refuse not only to shoot a man but you refuse to hate him.”

Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia.

He had a brother, Alfred and a sister, Christine. His father was a Baptist priest named Michael King and mother was a school teacher who taught her kids to read even before they went to school. His father traveled to Europe and was inspired by the German Protestant leader Martin Luther. He then changed his name to Martin Luther King and that of his son to Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. faced racism early in his childhood. These made him feel the need to change the society and free his African American brother. After graduation from Morehouse College, he married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953. He became a pastor of a Baptist church in Alabama in 1954. They had 4 children; Yolanda King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King and Bernice King.

King was greatly influenced by the Jewish Old Testament and the Christian New Testament. Mahatma Gandhi was one of the greatest people to influence him. He was deeply touched by Gandhi’s teachings and his non- violent means to secure independence of India from the British. King even visited the Gandhi family in India in 1959 to understand more of Gandhi’s non-violent resistance. He used these teachings in his peaceful mass protests and Civil Rights Movements all across the US.

Martin Luther King led a Civil Rights movement demanding equal rights for the Blacks. If today an African American has the right to vote or the right to go to the same school or college as that of his White American, it is because of the struggle and effort of Martin Luther King or fondly MLK.

Thus, every African American owes the freedom and liberty he or she now enjoys in America to King. Even the White Americans owe him something greater. America now stands as a model country for Equality and tolerance and emerges as the World Leader without having anyone point a finger at them. And this is as a result of the aspiration and dream of a great social worker and human rights activist- King. He taught not only the Americans but the whole world lessons on Human Rights and Equality. His struggles and peaceful protests for racial equality changed and shaped America into a great nation we see today- the Land of hopes and Opportunity.

In January 20, 2009 the country witnessed another great event in its history- when African American Senator Barrack Obama, another MLK follower, took his oath as the first Black President of America. That was the day when Martin Luther King’s dreams were realized; after nearly three decades of his famous speech “I have a dream”.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.”

August 28, is called “Dream Day” when in 1963 King made the famous speech “I have a Dream”.

MLK was a human rights activist, a social thinker, a Baptist minister, a great orator and the youngest Nobel Prize Winner (at an age of 35).  

MLK objected to US’s Vietnam War. He said the money spent on war should have been spent for the betterment of the lives of his countrymen. 

To quote him: 

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.  

One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.” 

In 1968, April 4, Martin Luther King was shot down in the balcony of his motel room in Memphis where he was to lead a protest march with the striking garbage workers of the city. His last speech the day before he was assassinated was “I have been to the Mountain Top”.

The Time Magazine honored King as “Man of the Year” in January 3, 1964 with a cover photo and story.

America commemorates each year in January as Martin Luther King Day on his Birthday. It is a national holiday in US.

Some of MLK’s quotable quotes are:

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Martin Luther King’s actions and words still linger in the minds of the Americans. Every major city in US has a street or school named after King. His legacy still continues to inspire till the end of the world.