Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ted Folkert
Monday, January 16, we honor the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, born in 1929, a leading civil rights activist engaging is nonviolent disobedience, led the Montgomery bus boycott, helped to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led protests of segregation in Albany, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama, organized the 1963 March on Washington where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. He was one of the great orators of our time who spoke with heartfelt compassion and emotion, and with unwavering passion for improving the lives of his downtrodden people.
He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968 by a white assassin, James Earl Ray, who was probably hired by some racial radicals who felt compromised by blacks seeking higher wages and better treatment, with opportunities to improve their lifestyles.
Apparently, those responsible for his death were more comfortable when the African Americans were brought here in chains in the holds of ships and enslaved for more than two centuries to make American farmers wealthy without hiring labor to raise their crops. This started about 1620 and continued unabated until after the Civil War. The slaves in the rebel territories were freed by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, after almost 250 years without interruption.
After another 150 years it is still a work in progress, a better situation in many ways, but equal opportunity for the African Americans still has a long way to go. The evidence is hiding in public view everywhere you look, as we blame them for their lack of progress while we deny them a level playing field.
Watching the African American Music and Stories that Changed America on ABC TV the other night with the remembrances of music and episodes, including Marvin Gay’s 1971 song which is still popular today “What’s Going On.” Marvin Gay isn’t still around to sing it to us but the words he sang still resonate and are still valid today:
“Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today, eheh
Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today, oh oh oh
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what’s going on
What’s going on
Yeah, what’s going on
Ah, what’s going on”
I believe Martin Luther King, Jr would approve of that song. Let’s think about him today on MLK Day. This song is still going on thanks to Marvin Gay and, perhaps for some of us, with MLK in mind. He paid the ultimate price for his ultimate cause and moved progress forward in the process. His death was a waste of great talent, but his life was not wasted. He brought progress to his cause with the courage of his convictions and fearlessness of the consequences. A worthy role model for anyone.
That’s what’s going on today!