I’ve Been To The Mountaintop
ByToday, as we take time to reflect upon the civil rights struggle and the philosophy of nonviolence, let’s remember that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. bore the hatred and misgivings of millions of people who said that America was not ready. Remembering that it took decades and centuries of struggle to set the stage for a man as brave and charismatic as Dr. King, we can take heart that as long as we continue to sail our national ship towards the shores of equality, we will arrive. We may lose leaders along the way, but the cause cannot be lost. Humanity’s drive towards freedom and equality will surely overcome the small minds that would stack one person on top of another and call some people unworthy of basic human rights.
Thank you, Dr. King. You showed us a way forward that embodied courage, nonviolence, and inevitable victory.
Dr. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, believed strongly in equal treatment for gay and lesbian people — within the context of the broader struggle for civil rights — including advocating for marriage equality:
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Martin Luther King actively opposed overpopulation as few do today and even fewer remember.
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/reverend-martin-luther-king-jr-4728.htm
http://www.birthcontrolwatch.org/blog/2009/01/martin-luther-king-jr-and-margaret.html
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I think there’s a sense among the progressive community (and no one was more progressive than MLK) that victory is inevitable, that what is right and fair and good is obvious and will triumph. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth. Improvement is possible, if we work hard and continuously. To say that victory is inevitable invites a complacency, an attitude that if we just do this everything will be okay and we can rest. The truth is we must work constantly, be ever vigilant, and never rest. The only thing that is inevitable is that the struggle will never end and those who are most motivated, loudest, and doing the hard work will have the most impact.
The promised land is not a magical place we reach if we work hard and persevere. It is a place we create for ourselves, our communities, states, countries and world by understanding that there is no end, only a process that we must continue.
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A fascinating op/ed piece by Irene Monroe discussing the role of Bayard Rustin in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Rustin, a gay man, was the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington and a trusted advisor to Dr. King.
For more information on this unsung hero of civil rights, check out the film Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin.
“When an individual is protesting society’s refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.†—Bayard Rustin
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Thanks to Pam Spaulding for calling my attention to tonight’s State of the Re:Union on American Public Radio at 9pm. It’s all about Bayard Rustin:
Sounds interesting. And you can listen through on innerweb by following that link above.
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