Guest Column: King's 'Beloved Community' Inspired a Movement
Today we honor and celebrate the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who inspired great hope, passion, and action with a shared vision and common dream of racial tolerance, equality, and togetherness – a state of social cohesion and harmony he referred to as "beloved community." In large part because of King's selfless and courageous leadership, a small but dynamic grassroots campaign against racial inequality and discrimination grew into a mass social revolution to persuade and pressure different social, economic and political forces to abolish legalized and de facto segregations, particularly those existing in the South. To commemorate his extraordinary efforts and contributions in support of a more just and unified nation, one in which all people are guaranteed certain inalienable rights including equal protection under the law, Martin Luther King Day was established as a national holiday in 1983 and first observed in 1986. Since then, MLK Day is observed the third Monday of January, around the time of King's actual birthday, Jan. 15.
King attributed his deep-rooted principles of unconditional love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness to his Christian faith, and he credited the efforts and accomplishments of legendary Indian spiritual and political leader Mahatma Gandhi for inspiring him to struggle against oppression using nonviolent resistance in the form of civil disobedience, what Gandhi called satyagraha (truth force). It was the combination of these steadfast personal commitments as well as his exceptional ability to build relationships and encourage others to do the same that facilitated the forward momentum and the effectiveness of the remarkable mass resistance to racial injustices known as the Civil Rights Movement. Gandhi once said, "No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive." King believed in this precept with his heart and soul and considered it a precondition of any democratic society that expected to thrive.
Racial segregation and hate, according to King, conflicted with a universal ethic or the natural way of things. He insisted that segregations were a product of manmade laws that stood in stark contrast with a higher moral law. Accordingly, laws of this sort must be resisted until they are seen for their depraved and harmful nature and consequently abolished. King's enduring and unwavering dedication to effect change was predicated on his deep desire, what he believed was his "calling," to see all people with equal rights and protections. To achieve the difficult task of structural change at the core of many social systems and institutions, King advocated nonviolent and peaceful measures. He understood and valued the historic evidence and truth that violence as a means to achieve equal protections would only beget violence and defeat, both on the moral ground on which he stood and his push for social justice.
King believed, as Gandhi did, that direct action and civil disobedience may need to involve breaking certain local and federal laws, in dramatic but nonviolent fashion, in order to rattle the establishment and "arouse a conscience" on the cause of civil rights, and to engender swift and measurable change for racial equality. The methods of achieving this end, according to King, and to changing any unjust law which prevented equal protections, must always be nonviolent, even in the face of a violent reaction and response by the opposition. During one of his multiple appearances on the television program "Meet the Press," King stressed that "the nonviolent resister ... is always willing to be the recipient of violence, but never to inflict it upon another." Otherwise, he argued, any movement or action for real, sustainable change and justice will suffer and fail because it will lose the moral high ground and, as a result, public support.
Only days before King's historic "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington event in August 1963, he again appeared on "Meet the Press." When asked to define the concept of equality, specifically in terms of the goals of the movement, King explained: "Equality is the ability of the individual in any society to achieve respect and dignity and all the other things that any individual in the society would achieve without the barriers of laws standing before him ... and without customary barriers." Toward this end, King sought to nurture empathy and transform domestic and global cultures and the human systems therein so that all people were treated equally and with dignity, not on the basis of their skin tone but on their character. This was a major aspect of his dream for a better tomorrow.
The cause of civil rights was not Dr. King’s only social initiative. He was also an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War, and called for public opposition to the war, which he believed should take the form of mass nonviolent demonstrations along with individual acts of resistance such as conscientious objection. Among Dr. King’s justifications for condemning the war was a strong conviction based both on the lessons of history and morality that peace and justice are not realized through violence, aggression, and occupation, but rather through diplomacy, negotiation, reconciliation, and other peaceful means.
King once said, "America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war" (Riverside Church speech, 1967). This prudent critique of America's ability to choose its future was meant to serve as guidance for a positive and sustainable way forward, and it rings as true today as it did a half century ago. Nevertheless, we continue to witness war being invoked as a legitimate and necessary tool for addressing international problems such as despotic regimes, terrorism and human-rights abuses.
As we pause and reflect today on the teachings and accomplishments of King and the Civil Rights Movement, let us also consider positive personal strategies and techniques, as King did, to effectively address and resolve negative conflicts and social injustices, for positive individual and social growth and toward a global commitment to secure equal opportunity, freedom and dignity for all, remembering in the process that love, empathy, forgiveness and nonviolence are some of most powerful ways to achieve these ends.
On the day he was assassinated (April 4, 1968), U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said: "King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort." No truer words have been spoken in history to describe the essence of any one person.
In his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963), King wrote, "Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty."
Among my greatest hopes is that each of us as part of the human family comes to realize, and very soon, that King's dream must become a reality everywhere and for everyone if we are to advance socially in a positive, growth-fostering, and sustainable manner.
Brian J. Trautman teaches peace and world order studies at Berkshire Community College. He is on the board of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, an editor with the U.S. Peace Registry of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation and a member of Berkshire Citizens for Peace and Justice.
