Martin Luther King Jr. lives on
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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Martin Luther King Jr.
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TODAY millions of people mourn the loss of one of the most celebrated leaders of the civil rights movement in the United States, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated at a Memphis, Tennessee motel room on April 4, 1968. Despite marking the 40th anniversary of such a tragic loss, many choose to remember the life and legacy of the revolutionary leader.
King graduated from his Atlanta, Georgia high school early at the age of only fifteen and continued his educational ascent until he received his Doctorate of Philosophy from Boston University on June 5th, 1955.
Though King had been involved in the civil rights movement for several years, he catapulted to prominence as a leader during the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. The historic event began on December 1st of that year when Rosa Parks was arrested under the segregation Jim Crow Laws of the United States for not giving up her seat on the bus to a white man. King then, as an executive member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), led the largest non-violent black demonstration at that time by initiating a 382-day boycott of the public transportation system.
According to a biography of King published by the Nobel Peace Prize Foundation, “during these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.” The boycott eventually resulted in a United States District Court ruling in the case of Browder v. Gayle to end racial segregation on all Montgomery public buses.
King’s career continued at a fervent pace over the next thirteen years as he became the spokesperson for non-violent protest in the gathering civil rights movement. During this time the Nobel Foundation cites him as traveling over six million miles, speaking over 2500 times, writing five books and penning countless articles denouncing social injustice, prejudice and oppression of all kinds.
It was during this period of his life that he wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” after being arrested for protesting segregation in Alabama. ~~Adz:Right~~
During these years King also famously led 250,000 persons of various ethnicities in a convergence upon the United States capital of Washington D.C. where the protestors demanded, through non-violence, the dissolution of segregation in public schools, the end of racial discrimination in employment and a standard minimum wage for all workers. It was here that King delivered his oft-quoted “I Have a Dream” speech, solidifying his legacy as a unifier of the people and a champion of human rights.
Five years later, a bomb threat was made against King’s 1968 flight to Memphis, after which the Reverend was quoted as saying:
“What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?’ Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
This quote proved strangely prophetic, as King was ill-fatedly gunned down the following morning. Riots across the United States followed King’s murder and to this day some conspiracy theorists believe that if he was indeed the trigger man, James Earl Ray did not act alone in the murder and even that the United States government had played some role in his death because of his stance against the Vietnam War and because they suspected him of being a communist.
In spite of all this, many activists do not bother to focus upon King’s death, but rather his message. “From my perspective his light still shines,” said Martin Luther King III, president of the Realizing the Dream Foundation dedicated to his father’s teachings, in an interview with the associated press. “His voice, his message we’re living every day. We’re embracing more and more. We're not as close to it as I would like to see us, but we're still living it. We're still moving toward it."
Following his death, King has been the noted inspiration of his wife, Coretta Scott King; his four children, Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott and Bernice Albertine; and countless other activists worldwide, including those of the Black Civil Rights Movement in South Africa, who continue to pursue equal human rights for all men and women everywhere.
King received many honors for his work, including twenty honorary doctorate degrees from universities worldwide and a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. King is one of the youngest persons ever to have won the distinguished honor and chose to donate all of his prize money, an amount equal to around US$360,000 today, toward the civil rights movement.
