Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Revolutionary
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR: A REVOLUTIONARY" by Fahim A. Knight 11/2/07
This is an honor and great privilege for me to write this brief article on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to share my views of the Man and his ideas. I ordinarily ask people, how much do they really know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
For example, how he was influenced at Morehouse College (Atlanta, Georgia) by Dr. Benjamin Mays (the president of Morehouse College at that time.). And how he watched his father take on a racist white clerk at a grocery store who referred to his father as a "boy" and his father pointed to his son, whose real name was Michael and not Martin and said, "He is a boy".
It was images and experiences like this that impacted young King's life. Dr. Mays authored a book titled, “Born to Rebel" and King talked about Mays being his mentor and a great influence on his young life.
The Christian theologian James Cone authored various books dealing with Liberation Theology. But he authored a definitive book on King and Malcolm, titled, "Martin and Malcolm and America: A Dream or a Nightmare" which he did a comparative analysis of these two intellectual giants and their revolutionary perspectives. All of Dr. James Cone's works are worth studying for all serious individuals of the clergy and those who are a part of religious schools of thought.
How did attending a white Quaker College in Pennsylvania for graduate school affect young King and his world view? King had transitioned beyond the question of race and understood that class, sexism and racism are all diseases; thus, these barriers have been intentionally set-up by the powers that-be to keep humanity divided.
King replaced a very militant and radical minister at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama named Reverend Vernon Johns and King was thrust into the Civil Rights struggle and movement due to a little black woman named Rosa Parks who in 1955 refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. Moreover, the Montgomery Improve Association (M.I.A) chose Dr. King as a voice for the black disenfranchised of the south. Dr. King did not just view the Bible as some spiritual book of dates, events, and personalities, but he made the Old and New Testament relevant to the social, political and economic reality of the struggle of the masses of the people.
Dr. King truly accepted the message of Jesus Christ, when Jesus said, “he who seeks to save his life should lose his life" and Dr. King had conquered his own fears just like Jesus. Jesus was a revolutionary not some passive, or conformist, but like Jesus, King advocated social and political change. So many religious people say they follow Jesus, but Jesus was a revolutionary and a militant spokesperson for the poor, disenfranchised and "have nots"; thus, Dr. King adopt the principles of Jesus who worked on behalf of the oppressed.
King studied Mahatma Gandhi of India and adopted his non-violent civil disobedience tactics as a strategic method to fight racism and discrimination within the United States. King's agitation forced the United States Government to pass the 1964 Civil Right's Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Bill, as well as other legislative accommodation acts.
But prior to the passing of this Civil Rights legislation, the United States Supreme Court in 1896 ruled in the Plessey V. Ferguson decision that "separate but equal" was Constitutional and this law ushered in 58 years of overt racism and Jim "Crowism” in the United States. It was overturned with Brown V. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas 1954. But the struggles for justice was just beginning for this bold and courageous people. King led the legendary Selma to Birmingham March in 1965 to protest discrimination and racism in America. He and the marchers were constantly confronted with some vicious racist; he chose civil disobedience and non-violent social protest as his tactic and strategy to dealing with social, political and economic disparities in America.
Dr. Martin Luther King stated, “But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One Hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro still languishes in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. . . I have a dream one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
Now! Many theologians and historians would like for us to believe that the 1963 March on Washington, "I have a Dream Speech" was the defining moment for King's life and miss all the other important aspects of King's legacy. Dr. King was murdered by the United States Government (Federal Bureau of Investigation) on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee assisting garbage workers in their quest for employment equality. How many of us will put our reputation and life on the line for garbage workers; thus, those at the bottom of the social and economic totem pole?
Dr. King in 1967 and 1968 gave a series of speeches titled, "Why I opposed the Vietnam War", in which J. Edgar Hoover; the former Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) targeted Dr. King for assassination, after King became an internationalist and had evolved beyond Civil Rights. The United States Government viewed Dr. King as a dangerous man and targeted him for assassination; please refer to the document titled, “COINTELPRO” a declassified FBI surveillance program that was revealed as part of the Freedom of Information Act. Thus, and in this document it demonstrate how the U.S. Government eavesdropped via wiretap, spied, and used government provocateurs to infiltrate King's movement and inner circle, etc.
They called Dr. King, the most dangerous man in America and labeled him as a communist in order to dismiss him as a relevant black personality. So any speech we give on King in the next few days or week, as far as his role in Civil Rights Movement; they must address some of these issues unless we fall short of representing one of the most important icons of the 20th Century.
We must ask ourselves, what would Dr. King's position be on the United States/Iraq war, Zionism, New World Order, Social Security reform, inadquate U.S. health care, gang violence, HIV epidemic, fatherless homes, racism, self-hatred, poverty, religious intolerance, governmental insensitivity, etc., these are perhaps some of the contemporary issues Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would be faced with in 2008.
Lastly, this writer does not think Dr. King would be siding with the imperialistic government of the United States and its beating of the war drum to attack the innocent nation of Iran; in fact, I think Dr. King would side with President Ahamadinejad and the oppressed people of Iran. Dr. King must be remembered by us as a social activist and the depth of his significance is much more far reaching than the "I Have a Dream Speech".
If African Americans are willing to truly evaluate the Civil Rights Movement, as far as the gains and losses from the viewpoints of integration verses separation; thus, they will see perhaps they were better off under segregation because it forced them to be creative economically, political and socially. But integration in many ways destroyed the will of them to be self-sufficient and independent because they no longer had to be responsible for their food, clothing and shelter that was left up to the United States Government. African Americans have a Gross National Product (GNP) of over 800 billion dollars, which would make them having the twelfth or thirteen largest economies in the world, if they were an independent and a sovereign people. But they lay at the gate of the rich man begging for the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table.
Fahim A. Knight Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of good will of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpret the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlighten world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim Knight can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com
STAY AWAKE UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN,
Fahim A. Knight
I enjoyed that article Fahim.
Thanks.
"I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it" Voltaire
Thank you, I truly admired the work and courage of Dr. King to stand-up against the forces of evil and take on the racist United States Government.
Some of my Christian brothers and sisters would do good to model their mission and work around a social Gospel like the one Dr. King led. You know I love that Voltaire quote. I would steal it, but it is often fitting for your words and we I see it, I always smile because it is one of my truths and stand as a UNIVERSAL TRUTH.
STAY AWAKE UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN,
Fahim A. Knight