Sunday, January 14, 2018

Martin Luther King, Jr. - The Man



" Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly." - Martin Luther King, Jr.


Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is January 15, 2018.


I have had, in the past, the opportunity to talk with an elderly woman who actually knew Martin Luther King, Jr.  She told me that everyone thinks King was very tall, probably because of his booming voice and his emphatic style of speech.

But, King was really not very tall. In fact, he was 5' 7".

My friend, who knew Dr. King, worked in the Civil Rights movement with him. She told me, "I would have followed him anywhere." Why? - Because despite his average (physical) height, he was larger than life, charismatic and dynamic.

I want to believe that the fight for Civil Rights was ALL about Martin Luther King, Jr. himself.

But King was humble. Dr. King once said, "Remember, if I am stopped, this movement is not stopped, because God is with the movement." King knew that there are certain God-given absolutes, certain things that are absolutely wrong such as slavery and racial bigotry. These absolutes, being God-given, cannot expire or go away.

Since those absolutes are never-ending, then these Truths belong to ALL of us. Then, it must be, that ALL of us are responsible to fight for Justice and that ALL of us are responsible for each other.

I always wanted to believe that since Martin Luther King was fighting for an inviolable Truth, that he himself was perfect. But, he was not. . .  History records that when Martin Luther King was on the road, FBI Head J. Edgar Hoover had his agents record King having intimate relations with a woman who was not his wife. Then, Hoover made sure to call King's wife and play the recordings over the phone for her.

We live in a time when we know that slavery is absolutely wrong. We have legislation that prohibits racial profiling, racial discrimination, and acts of racial hatred. These Truths are absolute.

But the road from Abolition to true racial equality is long. It is always the case that there are God-given, inalienable Truths - - and then, there is man himself.

Martin Luther King said, "There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us."

America has made some huge mistakes along the way -- obviously, the Jim Crow laws where white America tried to convince itself that "separate but equal" was good enough.

I believe that we are at a point in America's history when another significant Truth is being uttered aloud - that all women deserve respect and opportunity. In today's climate of sexual harassment, abuse and downright assault, we are once again speaking out about an inalienable Truth.

The continuum of inappropriate behavior of men towards women ranges from innuendo, to verbal harassment, to all out assault.

Martin Luther King said, "It is true that [not all] behavior can be legislated and legislation cannot make you love me, but legislation can restrain you from lynching me and I think that is kind of important."

When Oprah Winfrey interviewed some of the women involved in the Time's Up movement, she asked, "Once somebody's been accused of sexual harassment and loses their job, should they ever work again?"

Reese Witherspoon replied, "I am not here to make that decision." Shonda Rimes said, "I was raised in a world in which I believe that there has to be a belief that people can grow, change and learn and know better. I mean, NOT if you've committed a crime. You need to go pay, do your time for your crime. . . but at a certain point, there has to be room for reconciliation."

Reconciliation, forgiveness, have become almost like dirty words in this country. We seem to fear that "Forgiveness" means that somehow, the wrong action has suddenly become something "okay". Martin Luther King said, "Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning."

All of which raises the question, IF Martin Luther King, Jr. had been alive today and his infidelity had been disclosed widely on social media, would that infidelity have negated everything that he stood for?

And, do we even feel up to the task of ultimately judging him that way? We humans are a complicated amalgam of the awful and the amazing. . . .

Discovering an egregious wrong, naming it aloud, processing the pain, speaking the Truth in courage, weighing the evil against the good -- all of these constitute a process, a long walk of hurt and of Truth and of  Love. But we cannot hope to make progress in this world unless we can name the Truth and begin the painful conversation.

As Black-ish actress Tracie Ellis Ross said, "I think the one thing I would say is, like, everybody's gotta do some listening."

(Related Posting: "Martin Luther King", 1/17/11; "Remembering Martin Luther King", 1/16/12; "The Need for Martin Luther King, 1/16/13; "Martin Luther King's Dream", 1/15/14; The Prophet: Martin Luther King", 1/15/15; "What Would Martin Luther King Say?", 1/14/16; "The Enduring Wisdom of Martin Luther King", 1/8/17.]

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2018. All Rights Reserved.




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