As our nation celebrates the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one
of the most influential figures of the 20th century, it is important
to remember the breadth and depth of his the message and vision. In the era of
the first Black President, it would be easy to say King’s dream has been
fulfilled and now it is time to move on to new challenges. But this is a
misreading of current events and his words.
In his 1967 Riverside Church speech, Beyond Vietnam: Time to Break Silence, Dr. King talked about three
major demons; racism, materialism and militarism.[1] Today
these triplets continue to haunt us. In fact they have become more entrenched.
In the speech, King spoke of youth challenging his disapproval of their use of
violence when the U.S. was “…using massive doses of violence…” in
Vietnam.[2] He called our government, “the greatest purveyor of violence in the
world today.” This continues to be true as our nation is conducting global military
operations and occupying two countries with eyes on one or two others. The U.S.
is the largest weapons exporter in the world and has the largest military
budget, nearly outpacing all other nations combined.
Racism continues to distort the promise of America as people of
color have the highest unemployment rates and are blocked from access to
resources and opportunity. Speculation and greed caused by rampant materialism
has ravaged our economy, devastating the lives of millions, hitting working
class and poor people especially hard. The economic and social currents created
by the triplets flow together and work hand in hand to divert resources to war
for profit’s sake and empire building rather than investing in healthcare,
education, jobs, housing and other human needs that would uplift the poor and
help change the insidious legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Perhaps Dr. King’s most prophetic words come from this speech when
he warned, “The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the
American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality we will find ourselves
organizing clergy- and laymen-concerned committees for the next generation.”[3]
We find ourselves today as the clergy and laypersons organizing in our
generation. As we remember Dr. King we must applaud how far we have come. We
must also reflect on how far we have yet to go, and challenge others to see Dr.
King’s full vision of a just and peaceful world. He called for a true
revolution of values that will cause us to question the fairness and justice of
many of our past and present policies and see that using war to settle our
differences is not just. He called on America to lead 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.”[4]
Dr. King wisely saw then what is still true today, that the world’s
only hope “…lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go
out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty,
racism, and militarism.”[5]
This is how we ensure international security. This is how we stop
nuclear proliferation and reverse global warming.
This January 18th remember Dr. King by proclaiming his
full message. Do not stand by while it is watered down to make us all feel
good. Celebrate the journey we have taken, but remind everyone how far we have
to go. Will our nation take up the challenge? As Dr. King said, “The choice is
ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial
moment of human history.”[6]
[1]
I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution,
we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. When machines and
computers, profit and property rights are considered more important than
people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable
of being conquered.
[2] My third
reason grows out of my experience in the ghettos of the North over the last
three years - especially the last three summers. As I have walked among the
desperate, rejected and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov
cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them
my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes
most meaningfully through non-violent action. But, they asked, what about
Vietnam? They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to
solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit
home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence
of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the
greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, my own government.
[3]
There is something seductively tempting about stopping there and sending us all
off on what in some circles has become a popular crusade against the war in
Vietnam. I say we must enter that struggle, but I wish to go on now to say
something even more disturbing. The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far
deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering
reality we will find ourselves organizing clergy, and laymen-concerned
committees for the next generation. We will be marching and attending rallies
without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life
and policy.
[4]
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 re-ordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace
will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from
molding a recalcitrant status quo until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.
[5]
These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old
systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wombs of a frail world,
new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot
people of the land are rising up as never before. "The people who sat in
darkness have seen a great light." We in the West must support these
revolutions. It is a sad fact that, because of comfort, complacency, a morbid
fear of communism, and our proneness to ad just to injustice, the Western
nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world
have now become the arch anti-revolutionaries. This has driven many to feel
that only Marxism has the revolutionary spirit. Therefore, communism is a judgment
against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the
revolutions that we initiated. Our only hope today lies in our ability to
recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world
declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.
[6] Now let us
begin. Now let us re-dedicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful,
struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our
brothers wait eagerly for our response. Shall we say the odds are too great?
Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the
forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send
our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message, of longing, of hope, of
solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the
cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must
choose in this crucial moment of human history.
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