Photo By Robert Jackson | MLK, more than just a dream. read more read more
On Monday, the nation observed what would have been Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 90th birthday, though his actual birth date is Jan. 15.
At the time of his death, on April 4, 1968 at age 39, Dr. King had accomplished more than most do in a lifetime. For example, at age 25 he became the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama and by age 27 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the growing civil rights movement.
At age 35 Dr. King became the youngest man to have ever received the Nobel Peace Prize, states nobelprize.org.
Though he is recognized more for his fight for civil rights, he also fought against poverty and war. It was because of his accomplishments and his constant battles against injustice, that King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, quite an achievement for one so young.
As with all Nobel Prize winners, King was invited to Oslo, Norway, to take part in the festivities, receive his medal, personal diploma and his monetary award. In return he had to give a lecture. On Dec. 11, 1964, having already given his acceptance speech the day prior, King gave his lecture.
Dr. King talked about man’s advancements in technology, computers, aircraft, space travel and the like.
“There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually,” he said.
“We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.”
King went into three areas of concern to enhance his aforementioned comments. He spent a great amount of time explaining in detail each of these areas the first being racial injustice, not just in the United States, but worldwide. Though he gave some harsh examples, he offset the negative aspects of racial injustice with progress that had been made in the U.S.
He highlighted the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision outlawing segregation in public schools and the American people’s overwhelming rejection of a presidential candidate who had become “identified with extremism, racism and retrogression.”
The second area King covered in his lecture, “which plagues the modern world is that of poverty.”
Upon introducing this second “evil,” King said, “Take my own country for example. We have developed the greatest system of production that history has ever known. We have become the richest nation in the world... Yet, at least one-fifth of our fellow citizens – some ten million families, comprising 40 million individuals – are bound to a miserable culture of poverty.”
He suggested that the rich not ignore the poor because the two are “tied in a single garment of destiny.”
“We are inevitably our brothers’ keeper because of the interrelated structure of reality,” he concluded.
His third area of concern was the subject of war. Keep in mind that, at the time King was giving his lecture, the Vietnam War was in effect.
He summed up the subject by adding: “If we assume that life is worth living and that man has a right to survive, then we must find an alternative to war.”
Fifty-six years ago, Dr. King lectured about what should be done to solve the problems of injustice, poverty and war. Have we made progress? Think about it.
| Date Taken: | 01.23.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 01.27.2020 15:09 |
| Story ID: | 360543 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 51 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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