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Reporting on the Middle East, Science, and Education for January 21, 2008 - י"ד שבט תשס"ח
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Toward a better future through tolerance and mutualism
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Editorial, Chronicle-Tribune, January 21, 2008
See Also: A Muslim’s Dream
King is quoted as saying that everyone must decide whether they “will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
That is the purpose of this national holiday, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, to celebrate what King and so many others held dear – fairness and equality for all of us.
King died for that cause.
In the turbulent 1960s many others did as well. Still others were beaten in a country where, in many places, including Grant County, the color of a person’s skin often dictated how they were treated.
So it is fitting that we should honor King as the nation has every year since 1986.
Far too many people, we fear, consider this a holiday for African-Americans; it is, rather, a holiday that should be observed by us all.
There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that equal treatment for all people of all races is a basic human right.
King was born into a segregated south on Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta.
In September 1954, he became pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. It was in Alabama that he became front and center in the Civil Rights Movement when he was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which was responsible for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
He was assassinated April 4, 1968, while in Memphis, Tenn.
Much has changed in this country since that time, and for the good, we believe.
But we still question whether we’ve fully reached the potential of King’s dreams.
In perhaps King’s most famous speech, his “I Have a Dream” speech from the civil rights march on Washington, D.C., in 1963, he spoke of his dream:
“I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. 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.’
” … I have a dream that my four 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.”
The question we have to ask ourselves is this: Have those dreams have been realized for all citizens, all humans, in 2008?
Do we live in a country, a world, where all men (all people) are equal? Do we live in a country where we judge people by their character and not their skin color?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, there is still work to be done. And it is upon us all, men and women, all age groups, all races, all ethnic backgrounds, to do the work together.
King is quoted as saying that everyone must decide whether they “will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
On today of all days, perhaps each of us needs to answer that question and go forward.
Reprinted from Chronicle-Tribune, Indiana
