×
×
homepage logo
LOGIN
SUBSCRIBE

Martin Luther King’s legacy reverberates across time

By Paul Collins - For The Telegraph | Feb 20, 2021

Paul Collins

“Shot rings out in the Memphis sky

Free at last, they took your life.

They could not take your pride in

the name of love.

What more in the name of love?”

(Excerpt from “In The Name of Love” by U2)

At day’s end on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., while taking in the evening air on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee, was shot to death. The swiftness of the murder shocked this nation to its collective core. In particular, it was also an event that shook the very foundation of the black community across America. For in MLK, black Americans had found their leader, their hero, and their inspiration. Not only were they outraged, but they were also stunned, as in a split second they saw their hopes and dreams for what might have been laying crushed and broken on that motel balcony.

February is Black History month, and Dr. King is, and always will be, a pivotal figure, not only in in the pages of black history, but also in the black community’s long pursuit of racial equality in America. Across his all too brief time on this Earth, he was many things to many people. A fiery and inspirational orator, a minister, and above all else, a dreamer of dreams.

As a white man, I am not going to patronize any person of color who may be reading this by saying the words, “I understand.” Coming from any white person, those words simply ring hollow. They would surely sound absurd to African American people. While I abhor racism, and am empathetic to what black people deal with each and every day, the truth is that I can’t possibly hope to truly understand what any black person feels. In truth, I don’t believe that any white person can ever understand. In order to understand what black people feel inside, one needs to walk in their shoes before they can come anywhere close to grasping the feelings that tumble around inside them.

That being said, I will tell you in all honesty that I have always felt that Dr. King’s ‘I have a Dream’ speech is the greatest speech that I have ever heard delivered from any public figure. In my mind, nothing can come close to being on a par with the remarks that he delivered on August 28, 1963 to more than 250,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Today, so many decades after that distant day in August of 1963, every time I see the old black and white footage of it, his passion and his brilliant speech-making still blows me away. Simply put, the man was a natural orator, and he could mesmerize those to whom he spoke.

From this time and this place, it’s difficult to believe that at the time that he spoke the words, “I have a dream, that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal,” black people living in the South could not sit at a lunch counter with whites, were forced to attend segregated schools, and had to use ‘Black Only’ public restrooms. For as far as the struggle for equality has come, if Dr. King, always a staunch advocate of bringing about change through non-violent measures, were alive today one wonders what his feelings might be as he looked out across the racial landscape of America.

There can be no doubt that America is, indeed, a far different country today than it was on the fateful day in April of 1968 when he was cut down by an assassin’s bullet. King did not live to see his dream come true; the ultimate triumph in the long struggle for racial equality. He did not live to see a black man be elected President of the United States and serve two terms in office. In the America of these times, blacks sit on the Supreme Court, and hold top level positions in both the senate and congress of the United States. Today, there are many more executive white collar employment opportunities open to people of color that simply did not exist in the world in which Martin Luther King Jr. lived. That being said, he was the tip of the spear as an agent for change. Throughout his life, he never gave up his hope of bringing about change through a nonviolent approach. He never compromised his belief system or his goals. It often appears that compromise and shifting goals are the currency of the leaders of our times.

In the wake of the monumental changes that have been brought about over the decades, there is still a very long road to travel to effect change. Part of MLK’s dream was his vision of a new day when racial violence and police abuse would be swept away into the dustbin of history. Looking across the current social landscape of our times, the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor coupled with the overwhelming force that police used against the Black Lives Matters protestors in today’s America, implores us to look a bit closer at who we are as a society. It also gives one pause to wonder if Dr. King’s dream was, in fact, stillborn.

In that timeless 1963 speech given against the backdrop of the National Mall he said, “We can never be satisfied as long as black Americans continue to be the victims of unspeakable horrors of police brutality.” As I write this, there are other words that are echoing through my mind. The words are those of a black man who lay pinned down on a Minneapolis street with a police officer’s knee on his neck when he said; “I can’t breathe.” In addition to crying out for his mother, those were George Floyd’s last words before he died.

As our nation celebrates Black History Month, it’s important to remember what a towering figure Martin Luther King Jr. was, and how he was at the vanguard of change. Never acting out of fear, he will be remembered as a man of courage and gritty determination in his fight against violence, hatred, ignorance and oppression. Yes, there has been much progress made in the struggle for equality, but let us not forget that the often painfully slow changes that have come about across the last 50 years are the result of one man’s quest. They are the outcropping of one man’s unfailing hope, and one man’s dream. A man who saw a time when, “The sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.” Looking back at his legacy of change through non-violent means, there is a stone cold irony to be found in the fact that this man of peace lost his life in such a brutal and violent way. He is gone, but his dream lives on.

Paul Collins is a freelance writer from Southborough, Massachusetts.

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

Interests
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *