Today: MLK, Jr.

What would Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. think of today's America?  Considering the question "would he be dissapointed or happy," I can't answer.  But this question is much more complex than it may seem.  It's not like sketching a portrait of what a missing child will grow up to look like.  That, though weaved with many variables, at least has a solid footing in something tangible.  But our society, compared with Dr. King's, is much more complicated.


I'll be honest, I haven't read the columns written by other bloggers on this.  I didn't watch TV on Dr. King's holiday.  I don't want to be influenced.


I had the privilege of studying Dr. King briefly while I worked toward my undergraduate degree at The Pennsylvania State University.  I wrote a paper for my senior history seminar comparing the life events and teachings of Dr. King and Malcolm X.  Though contemporaries, I wouldn't necessarily consider the men to be peers.  They were both strong black men, both leaders, during the most intensely difficult racial climate of the 20th century.  But Dr. King preached nonviolence, kindness and patience; Malcolm X offered harsher words, instead favoring militance, and demanding immediate change.  They were both influenced deeply by mentors, hard workers, both with the qualities necessary to lead.   To be clear, I don't favor one over the other.  Their stories, so different, are so inspirational.  They both met tragic ends, both assassinated.  Some of the darker moments in our history as a people.


But Dr. King's impact was awesome.  Who can look to the mall in Washington D.C. without remembering those people who marched on it, who came to listen to his message?  His voice lives on in audio recordings.  His dream was our dream, and the text is posted in classrooms all over the States.


It is natural to question what he'd think today, on the day that we pause to remember him.  But I'm not sure it's a pleasant answer.


Of course, today we have an African-American president.  Consider the great strides that the African-American people have made in our short national history.  In 1787, our forefathers reached the "3/5 compromise."  This was 224 years ago; some trees live 224 years.

But Dr. King advocated nonviolence, and our history is riddled with acts of violence.  Christopher Columbus' massacre of natives.  The systematic settlers' campaign against Native Americans.  Vietnam.  September 11th.  Of hate.  Harvey Milk.  Matthew Shepard.  Virginia Tech.  And during President Obama's tenure, just before Dr. King's holiday, a lone gunman waged his own war against innocents in a public setting.   There are countless other acts that have complicated explanations of their own.  How many school shootings were perpetrated by students who were bullied prior to the infamous events? 

The connotation of nonviolence runs very deep.  Some interpret it as vegetarianism, for example.  But we must not turn a blind eye to school bullies.  Just today, I read news that two more students have fallen victim to school bullying, taking their own lives.  Lance Lundsten.  Tiffani Maxwell.

I think that's when it hit home for me.  The teachings and impact of Dr. King are not simply black and white.  It's about kindness, period.  Why are young people taking their lives?  It's not depression, but bullying?  This is an outrage.  Anyone who uses words of hate, even casually, are part of the big problem.  I applaud public figures like Ellen DeGeneres; she's recorded heartfelt messages of love and kindness and reached out to teens through her website.  If more people were like her, less of this would happen.

I think if he were here today, Dr. King would say, in essence, let's be kinder to ourselves and to others.


Image: Smithsonian Institution Libraries