Jan 16, 2008 - 14:48:59 CST
The Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday legislation was passed in 1983, signed into law by then-President Ronald Reagan, after 15 years of advocacy and support.The holiday legislation was first introduced by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan four days after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Despite persistent opposition by critics of King, the holiday is now observed every third Monday in January.
Although many people do not truly celebrate the holiday, it is an opportunity to reflect on the words of a great orator and peacemaker. Those words often have as much relevance today as they did when they were spoken more than 40 years ago.
Although the extreme acts of racial segregation that motivated his words no longer exist, the inhumanity of humanity continues to beg their remembrance. Whether it is the poor, immigrants, women and children, the elderly, or the environment, there is always something the greater society is willing to sacrifice for their own comfortable gains. It is this tendency that bears continued reminding that we can be - and should always seek to be - better human beings.
Following are my favorite excerpts from King's letter from Birmingham Jail. Choose any controversy or event and reflect on the words and their meaning. Maybe in this small way, we can honor the individual who spoke them in the hopes of making a difference.
n "You deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place ... But I am sorry that your statement did not express a similar concern for the conditions that brought the demonstrations into being. I am sure that each of you would want to go beyond the superficial social analyst who looks merely at effects, and does not grapple with underlying causes."
n "History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but ... groups are more immoral than individuals. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."
n "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."
n 'Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection ... I am coming to feel that the people of ill-will have used time much more effectively than the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people."
(Cheryl Long Feather -Hunkuotawin - is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She writes from Bismarck and can be reached at longfeather@bis.midco.net.)
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