Dr. King, Behold The Man!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was far more than a civil rights leader when we engage in a deliberate and intentional ongoing study of his life and work. There are constantly new discoveries. And those discoveries have to be brought to the forefront.

Dr. King was a global humanitarian, a philosophical intellectual, a profound orator, a thought leader, a prophetic mouthpiece, an inclusionary preacher that transcended his life and message beyond civil rights and the exclusive needs of black people in America. He helped to shape public policy for public accommodations and voting rights and became an international ambassador for peace as a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. He evolved because he chose to get involved.

I read a quote a few days ago by an unknown author that said “Tell people enough about you so they will know who you are not. Let people learn enough about you so they know who you are.” Dr. King told us enough about himself in his short 39 year life where we could rationally conclude who he was not. It’s not how long live but how well you live, because longevity without productivity leads to futility. And 54 years after his physical death, we are still learning about him so we can know who Dr. King was and how America is an improved nation because of his contribution.

Dr. King’s sermons, speeches, statements and sound bites were so cutting edge and prophetic until his words still speak to the present condition of America. He was so far ahead of his time when many of his generation could not receive his message or embrace his movement. It makes me think about the biblical narrative when Cain rose up and slew his brother Abel, the Lord let Cain know that his brother’s blood cries from the ground. And when Dr. King was assassinated nearly 54 years ago, his voice wasn’t silenced, but he’s still speaking. People often ask what would Dr. King say regarding the present condition of America, he wouldn’t say anything different he said 54 years ago, because his message is right on point where we are living now. The players are different, but the game is still the same. Regression is waging a war against progression in America. And it takes unearthing ancient truth in order to engage in a treading advance for America to live up to its principles in practice.

King said “Ever since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, America has manifested a schizophrenic personality on the question of race. She has been torn between selves–a self in which she has proudly professed democracy and a self in which she has sadly practiced the antithesis of democracy.”

 Principles will always outlive a person because they are designed not just for the present generation but for generations to come to become a living and working reality in our day to day lives. We will always receive divine assistance once we fulfill our human responsibility. You are the hands and feet of the Divine to make a mark in the Universe as Dr. King did that will live throughout eternity. I believe that God will balance the scales of justice and He will right every wrong. William Cullen “Truth crushed to earth shall rise again.” James Russell Lowe “Truth forever on the scaffold…” Theodore Parker said “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

King the man had the courage to be, he stayed the course to be, and ultimately, he paid the cost to be. If a man hasn’t found something he’s willing to die for, he isn’t fit to live.