Thoughts on Martin Luther King Junior Day

Lisa Hoffman and Charles Atkins

Published February 2, 2006

"The aftermath of nonviolence is the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness."

--Martin Luther King Junior 1929-1968

Usually Lisa and I get together on Wednesdays to write. But today is Martin Luther King Day—a federal holiday first celebrated in 1986--and I’ve been given the day off. It seems fitting to spend some time thinking about the meaning of what Dr. King was all about.

His messages of non-violent social change and the dream of racial and social equality for all are visions that have not been fully met, both here and abroad. If we think back through recent history, we’re reminded of how far we’ve come, but also how tenuous the gains have been.

"And," Lisa says, "how much further we still have to go. Have we learned anything from past experiences?"

"That’s the big question, or in the words of George Santayana, ‘those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it’. You lived through the Nazis where entire religions and races were systematically targeted for extermination. That wasn’t such a long time ago."

"Even in England, after I escaped the Nazis," Lisa says, "I encountered a different kind of prejudice that was more subtle, no one was trying to kill me, but it was certainly painful. It was a class distinction. Where I was the servant, and the rules that applied to me, were very different from the masters of the house."

"I think it’s easy to forget how recent many of the changes in civil liberties have been. The other important point is that all of these changes have been hard fought. Looking at our own history, the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t become active until 1863, two years before the end of the Civil War. And slavery wasn’t officially abolished until the 13^th Amendment in 1865.

"Women didn’t get the vote until the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920."

"That was a year after I was born," Lisa comments. "It’s strange to think how something as basic as my right to vote, wasn’t a woman’s right at all at the beginning of my life. Years ago, I volunteered to call area resident reminding them to vote. I remember one woman telling me, ‘my husband takes care of that’. I was so shocked I almost dropped the receiver."

With a quick search on the Internet we’re reminded that not all African-Americans had the right to vote until passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The creation of this bolstering up of the 15^th Amendment came after the murder of civil rights activists in Mississippi and the unprovoked attack of peaceful demonstrators by State Troopers in Selma Alabama.

"The Declaration of Independence carries so many wonderful ideals." Lisa says. "You know I had to memorize long passages of it in the 1950’s when I became a citizen. Let’s see,"and she recites, "’We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ I don’t think we’re all the way there," she comments.

"Another piece of Martin Luther King’s legacy," I comment, "has to do with non-violent change and service to the community. Much of his philosophy of peaceful protest and civil disobedience he attributed to another great leader, Mahatma Gandhi. Who like Doctor King, was also assassinated.

"I guess that’s part of my struggle in coming to terms with Doctor King’s legacy. As we look over these major changes, most of them have come through considerable personal sacrifice, and quite a bit of blood shed. It’s hard to reconcile the desire for peaceful change and equality with the reality of our species."

"It’s true," Lisa says. "Freedom and equality are not to be taken for granted. That’s why it’s so important to remember the gains of the past and honor those, like Doctor King, so his dream of equality for all can become a reality."

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