Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembrances

There are, of course, a multitude of memorials to the life of Rev. King, as there should be on the day set aside to recall what he did for America and, not to put a damper on these occasions, to mourn at what he would think if he could see what has been done to his dream of being judged by the content of his character and not by the color of his skin. I thought I would set out below links to some of the most thoughtful of these writings and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

“Dr. King forged a dream out of the values of his religion and the ideals of our nation's founders. He cherished the dream of a world where human dignity was respected, human rights were protected, and all stood equal before the law. Like Lincoln, he sought the full realization of the principles set forth in our Declaration of Independence. So, as we celebrate the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., let us recommit ourselves to living his dream. As we rejoice in his achievements and mourn again his untimely death, let us emulate the profound faith and the deep love for humanity that inspired him. Let us work without tiring for a world at peace, in which justice and freedom prevail.” – Ronald Reagan

A most thoughtful article was “A Gift of Grace to the United States” in which the author recalls meeting Rev. King and being struck by his “air of gravity and dignity and formality.”

Another excellent article is “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: the very best of America” which, while extolling his inspiration and accomplishments in the Civil Rights movement, concludes with these balanced words:

Yes, in the decades since his death, scholars have found that he had his flaws and frailties. To err is human.

Then, too, we nowadays largely idealize his crusade — forgetting the issues that made him even more controversial: his opposition to militarism; his denunciation of America as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today”; his warning that the greatest threat to black progress was “the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to racial justice.”

Ultimately, though, Martin Luther King’s legacy is that he managed to combat injustice by appealing to Americans’ highest aspirations. And that is why the nation rightly celebrates him today.

One of the many rights and privileges The Founding Fathers bequeathed to me was the right to not only engage in wishful thinking but the right to give words to those dreams, as Rev. King did in what is surely one of the greatest pieces of oratory in modern times. Thus, while I know it’s wishful thinking, I have to say that we have never needed the “gravity and dignity and formality” of Martin Luther King, Jr. more than we do today. His spiritual leadership is sorely missed in this time when identity politics stands for the opposite of the ideas he preached.