Continue to reflect on his contributions

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Reggie Manning
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  On Jan. 16 the nation will once again, celebrate the life and accomplishments of (Rev.) Dr. Martin Luther King. As a Civil Rights activist and an ambassador for equality among all human races, King changed and touched the lives of many. Through this day of remembrance, we all should reflect on our lives and how he continues to affect the society we live in today.

King was born Michael King Jr., in Atlanta, Ga., to Michael Sr. and Alberta King, both reverends. Michael Sr. followed the footsteps of Alberta's father and stepped in as the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Following much success, he was given the name Martin Luther King after the German Protestant religious leader Martin Luther. Following suit, Michael King Jr. changed his name to honor his father and became the Martin that we all know today.

Graduating from high school at the age of 15, King went on to follow his father's and grandfather's footsteps, by receiving his Bachelor's Degree from Morehouse College. He then pursued theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected the class president of a predominantly white class. This scenery was foreign to King since he had grown up attending segregated public schools. Still he pressed on and enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University and at Harvard University, where he completed his residence for his doctorate in 1955; it was here that he met his future wife, Coretta Scott.

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of education," said King.

In 1955, King was a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement and was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association. Taking interest in bringing an end to segregation, King started with public transportation and arranged a successful boycott on Montgomery buses. The stand lasted for 381 days and King was arrested more than 30 times for his involvement, his home was bombed, and he was subjected to personal abuse.

"An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law," said King.

During the 11 year span of 1957-1968, with his passion to convey equality to America, King traveled more than six million miles, giving a total of 25,000 speeches and making an authoritative presence wherever injustice was prevailing. During these drastic times, King managed to write five books as well as numerous articles on his ideal world.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," King said.

Following a string of murders and bombings in Birmingham, Ala., in 1957 King helped organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and protested for the acknowledgement of civil rights. Everything that King stood for was tested, from his patience to his sanity. He not only struggled to get the attention of the oppressors, but the very people he was fighting for weren't showing interest in his peaceful tactics. The community wanted revenge, but through his speeches and his profound display of divine Christianity, King wrote "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," a manifesto of the Negro revolution. He also orchestrated drives in Alabama to protest the acceptance of black voters. With 1963 being a year for racial unrest, it was during these times that he caught the attention of the entire world, and King emerged as a well respected leader.

"Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love," King said.

King went on to direct a peaceful march in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963; a gathering of more than 250,000 people. It was the largest demonstration ever witnessed in that nation's capital and one of the first to have extensive television coverage. The purpose of this march was to force the government and the world to face the issues of joblessness and the lack of freedom in urban communities. It was here that King delivered his most infamous Speech, "I Have a Dream."

"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," King said. "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."

King was awarded five honorary degrees and was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963. At the age of 35, he was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and donated all financial accolades to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality," King said.

In a time where people were starting to grow more militant and face violence with violence, King kept his peaceful stand.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind," King said.

On April, 4, 1968, while in Memphis, Tenn., in support of sanitation workers on strike, King was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the murder and was convicted. Riots broke out nationwide during the following days, as the communities and the people touched by the work of King took the news to heart. Thirty nine people died during these uproars of destruction, causing the nation more than 50 million dollars in physical damage--the mental and emotional damage was beyond calculation.

"If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive," King said.

On the day that we remember King, let's not forget what he stood for, what he lived for and what he died for. He marched for equality, not solely for black Americans, but all Americans. He preached nonviolence; he preached love, understanding and educating oneself of the social barricades that we as a people face daily. On this day we should reflect on his life and most importantly his words. King was a peaceful man who moved America not by force, muscle or brute violence, but simply by love and his verbal inspirations.

"We will speed the day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing... Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I'm free at last," King said.

Content in this article was taken from the following websites: www.nobelprize.org, www.infoplease.com, and www.factmonster.com.