Opinion

Throughout the years I have enjoyed the benefits of the federal holidays and barely given a second thought as to why I received such a gift.

I, like the majority of the nation, happily took the day off and went about my business in a cloud of naivete. That is until recently when I was asked by our Managing Editor Susan Devilder to write a column on Martin Luther King, Jr.

Not totally clueless on Martin Luther King, Jr., I was aware of the most basic information regarding the man–Baptist minister, social activist, marched on Washington and author of the famous speech, “I Have a Dream.” But I’ll admit that is where my knowledge ended.

Turning to the internet I fell into a rabbit hole of information documenting the life of MLK. So much so I found myself limited to some of the highlights.

Martin Luther King was born on Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son, grandson and great grandson of Baptist ministers and raised in a comfortable Middle-class family. At the age of just 15, he began his extensive college career. It was his years at Crozer Theological Seminary, where he became acquainted with Mohandas Gandhi’s philosophy of non violence.

This philosophy would later become his only armour worn into the marches for equality. Movements like the Selma to Montgomery march where local authorities and White Supremacist groups came armed with whips, billy clubs, tear gas and an attitude of intolerance and hate. Men, women, and even children were chased and beaten and the event became known as “Bloody Sunday.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. was leader of the Civil Rights Movement from the mid-1950’s until his death in 1968. It was largely due to his leadership that the movement achieved success in ending legal segregation of African Americans in the South and other parts of the U.S.

A powerful and charismatic orator and head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King, in 1963, along with an estimated 250,000 people marched on Washington D.C. This march was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in U.S. history. In 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into effect the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A year later in 1965, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American people.

But it was his march on Washington D.C. and his oration of his “I Have a Dream” speech that helped me to better understand the man and his ideals.

His dream was simple. That all men be treated as equals, that man should be judged by his character and not the color of his skin, that this country would finally live the truth of our founding creed that proclaims “… that all men are created equal.”

I can’t help but wonder, “What is it about this dream that scares so many?” He was not looking to take anything away from any race or gender, only that all would experience the same benefits of life in this United States, regardless of color or gender, just a blanket equality for all.

Reading through the transcripts of his speech I can’t help but think his words still carry a message this nation needs to hear. Some of the reform and changes he sought still remain elusive in many parts of this country. His work and the work of other Civil Rights leaders now lay fragile in the hands of our fragmented government.

Like many before him, whose message was only one of equality, peace and love, his life was cut short by an assassin’s bullet on April 4, 1968. His dream, an actual threat to who and what, I cannot fathom. The parallel to a few other great dreamers does not escape me.

We celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. day on Monday, Jan. 20. I’ll be honest I am not looking forward to this day. But I know for mankind to advance, through chaos comes the change we obviously, desperately need. We must stay the course charted by King and the many before us whose message was love, tolerance and equality for all.

So come Monday evening I plan on spending my night with a glass of wine watching the movie “Selma” in the company of King’s memory.

After all, in my opinion other than the various events celebrating MLK day, then there is nothing else happening that is worthy of my attention. And for however long it may take, I will try to carry the faith and I’ll spend my time in the company of dreamers. A dream where there is no exception and all men and women are created and live as equals, not just a chosen few.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The Kewanee Voice.