King in Holland, August, 1964. Photo: Cees de Boer, CCO
By now, we all know at least the basic story of Martin Luther King Jr. We know that he was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. We know that he was a minister, one of the most prominent figures of the Civil Rights Movement and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. We are aware that in 1983 the United States government honored his life’s work by making the commemoration of his birthday a federal holiday, that we celebrate on the third Monday in January.
We know that he, along with countless others, prayed, planned, marched, boycotted and went on strike for basic human rights and a dignified standard of living for all of us. He strategized, wrote, spoke and yes preached about the actions we needed to take for the future we visualized for ourselves. He reminded us of our shared humanity and of the responsibility and burden that we must all shoulder to get us to the Promised Land.
So that, in this land we may earn a living wage. With that wage we can buy a ticket, enter through the front door and sit on any unoccupied bus seat, no matter which section of the vehicle that seat is located. And that bus shall deliver all children to attend integrated, well equipped and well managed schools. That vehicle shall deliver us to local districts to shop for apparel from stores in which anyone may try on clothes – before we purchase them. Once we step off that bus, we may walk down the street and not have to move off the sidewalk to let others pass first. After we enter a cafe, we may sit and be served at any lunch counter we choose.
What we may not know, is that the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. was not perfect. But he was very, very good. A beautifully imperfect soul, as we all should strive to be. We may not know that in 2021, there are still some states that do not recognize this holiday. And still others that combine the celebration of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee in the same holiday.
In this present moment of unrest and the attempt to erase norms and rewrite our Constitution, it should not surprise us that it is taking too long to realize his dream. He warned us that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”. So “We must wait on time”, but we know that we must continue the struggle until we get there. We thank him for his unwavering moral compass, courage and conviction.