Monday, January 15, 2018

MLK Day

Today has been set aside to honor perhaps the greatest American to ever walk among us. 
What makes the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior so extraordinary beyond his success in the civil rights movement, is that he NEVER held an elective office or any political post.  He worked outside the system.  He created a movement that initially had no political support, no funding and faced violent opposition resulting in the deaths of many who supported humane treatment for our fellow citizens.    
 
That makes today one of the most significant days of the year.  Significant because most American today believe that simply showing up at the ballot box is where their responsibility in safeguarding our liberties begins and ends.  They refuse to become activists – to create citizen movements, to educate, agitate, strike, boycott, to break some windows - to threaten those in power with the disruption and stability they need to continue their terror of suppression.  We are fearful to take to the streets as Dr. King did, even in knowing that that is only way in which any meaningful change has ever been implemented in America – knowing that if we don’t, we are destine to lose our liberties and freedom. 
 
The fact that today is not a national holiday clearly indicates that Dr. King’s dream is far, far, far from fruition.
 
 I've Been to the Mountaintop Sermon
Delivered Mason Temple (Church Of God)-  Memphis, Tennessee
April 3, 1968The night before he was shot and killed
 Excerpts:
Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator—that something that we call death”….And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. " 
 
“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day,…I'd like somebody to mention that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others….I tried to love somebody…that I did try to feed the hungry… that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked…that I tried to love and serve humanity.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice.  Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."                                                                      ~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Mission accomplished – Well done sir.

For the millions of Americans who have no knowledge of this
- “NOW IS THE TIME”  TO CORRECT THAT DEFICIENCY.    
 
 

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