standing with hope

In my own mind, the challenge for us today isn’t to find a feel good quote from Dr. King that we’ve allowed to let us believe all is well and “good enough”. The challenge is to evaluate whether or not we would have agreed with what he said in the full context of when he said it. Would we stand with him in his philosophies right now, in real time?

Take some time to read his works, or listen to his speeches, and reflect. Take yourself beyond the hot takes, mouth pieces, and lessons you remember from grade school.

Actually, feel free to ditch this post and read his words directly. Just click the links below:
Letter From Birmingham Jail
Nobel Prize Lecture

Dr. King was more than a demagogue. More than a neatly packaged legacy and statue in DC. He laid down his life for people he would never meet. He wasn’t applauded by the US government.

Have you ever listened to “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop“? It would be the last speech Dr. King delivered, given on the eve of his death in Memphis. Why was he in Memphis? Because four years after the signing of the Civil Rights Act, two Black garbagemen were killed on the job after being denied shelter during a torrential downpour. Their only source of shelter was in the back of the garbage truck. The compactor malfunctioned and they were crushed. Workers had been reporting unsafe work conditions for months prior to this incident. As Dr. King said, “Justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

Dr. King was assassinated at 39. No older than me. He was 28 when he and Ralph Abernathy, Joseph Lowry, and Fred Shuttlesworth founded the Southern Christian Leaders Conference. This leadership didn’t come from an aged man, seasoned for most of a century. It came from a young man with a brilliant mind, who had lived enough to know our country must do better. Human beings deserved better.

“I criticize America because I love her. I want her to stand as a moral example to the world.” -Dr. King

Anti-war, anti-poverty, anti-violence

Dr. King was anti-war. Imagine him reading the headlines today. Dr. King saw war as a direct opposition to the Christian faith. He shared his thoughts about the destruction caused by weapons and war. The amount of money a country will spend on war while impoverished citizens are at home. Dr. King didn’t degrade troops, but he stood in opposition of sending young men to war. Particularly Black and Brown men who had been dehumanized by a country they were expected to give their lives for. Less empire. More dignity and equality.

Dr. King was anti-poverty. He launched the Poor People’s Campaign in 1967. With the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts signed, he honed in his focus on Americans living in poverty. The hope was to create long term, systemic changes to eliminate poverty in the US. Dr. King openly acknowledged his economic philosophies aligned more with democratic socialism than capitalism. When I read Dr. King’s ideas, I think of Bernie Sanders.

Dr. King was anti-violence. He had so much to say about violence. Just as peaceful protesters are typically blamed for any and all violence caused at a protest today, Dr. King was blamed for any and all violence at protests under his name. Violence was too shallow. He knew violence begets more violence. Did you know protesters for sit ins went through trainings? Everything was strategic. Individuals were trained in self-restraint, with the resolve to stand in the path of a fire hose and the teeth of dogs. Again, Dr. King’s faith did not allow for the retaliation of violence to advance any movement he led.

“It (Violence) is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert… It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue.”

-Dr. King, Nobel Prize Lecture

It is easy for us to say we are also “anti” all of these things. However, we still see these issues play out in real time, even right this second, and find ourselves in a divide.

Dr. King winning the Nobel Prize reminds me that the ones who do the most, who cause friction, who actually make peace, are not always widely accepted or embraced within our culture. Friction is where growth happens and is not inherently divisive. Accountability should not be divisive.

There can be debate about Dr. King’s theology. However, there cannot be a debate about his passion for justice and liberation for all people. Or a debate that this passion was rooted in a deep faith that all people are children of God. Dr. King believed that society and individuals are both in need of repentance and salvation through Christ.

Just as it was in the 60s, I think the Christian moderate, whom Dr. King addresses in his letter from jail, still finds it easier to stay quiet in the background today. To keep proximity at an arm’s length and disregard what doesn’t seem to affect us directly. Jesus’ ministry could have never existed without proximity. He is Immanuel -“God with us”. He didn’t avoid the marginalized, He went to them. He didn’t bend to the Pharisees and leaders, even though He knew they would crucify Him. We can be so quick to invoke the name of God in a quest for power, and so quick to take His name out of caring for our neighbor.

May we accurately remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. May we all be a little more like Jesus. And if you haven’t yet, maybe go watch Selma.