Opinion
Remember MLK’s work today, every day
As the 81st anniversary of the birth of famous civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is celebrated tomorrow, we pause today to reflect on his life, his work and his courage.
From the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott until his assassination 13 years later, King fought tirelessly for the natural, God-given rights of American blacks, at times giving up his freedom and ultimately giving up his life to see to it that blacks were treated equally in this country.
Not only was King unafraid to take on the establishment and its racism, but he also would not back down from other clergy members and other civil rights activists who claimed his tactics were too confrontational and ill-timed. As King wrote in the now-famed “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”:
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was ‘well timed’ in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’”
While in some corners justice might still be delayed, America has come a long way in eradicating the discrimination that was once all too rampant in our society, in no small part due to the efforts of Dr. King and his fellow civil rights activists. We will always remember their courage and their indefatigable efforts for equality, on this day and every day.
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