Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I wanted to write an article honoring Martin Luther King Jr., but I wasn't sure what approach to take. After engaging with my supporters on social media, I suddenly began getting messages from people, specifically white people, who were inquiring about how I stood up for injustices and mentioning that I should be more like Martin Luther King Jr.; leading out-loud, front and center, for a cause of their liking, which then inspired to come here and write express follows.

This isn't me writing like I'm so well-versed in the history of this country or the history of black people in this country (even as a Black Woman). Although I am not a scholar or an expert, I would like to think I have a level of insight and understanding that enables me to understand and appreciate the work Dr. King has done as well as how my life and the lives of many others have been impacted by it; and at the same time scoff at the people, businesses, corporations, and our government that use his story to push a narrative that isn't reflective of the real message behind his activism.

Picture from WSB Radio

I may not be an expert, but I have gone deeper than what I learned in public schools in the United States. One of the goals of the master narrative pushed by the same government that assassinated this brother, father, husband, community leader, and son is to dilute his message so that only the bits of his words, deemed acceptable by the systems in power, are promoted.

To celebrate Dr. King's 93rd Birthday, I encourage you to explore some of his pieces that go beyond just peace, non-violence, and unity. I suggest you read a few of his articles in order to get a more holistic view of his message. Dr. King did not just advocate non-violence/peace, he fought for justice as well. Through his call for the "leaders" to dismantle the exact systems that are keeping people down, he was disrupting the order and encouraging the people to stand up for not only their rights, but the rights of all people.

I often see tweets from Dr. King’s daughter, Ms. Bernice King (@BerniceKing on twitter), reminding people every day, who misquote him, that the same people utilizing his words to shame people for “fighting” for their rights are the same people who hated him when he was alive:

Please don’t act like everyone loved my father. He was assassinated. A 1967 poll reflected that he was one of the most hated men in America. Most hated. Many who quote him now and evoke him to deter justice today would likely hate, and may already hate, the authentic King. #MLK - @BerniceKing

Picture from Blogpost.

As someone with a small platform, I would like to support Ms. Bernice King in her mission to keep us from forgetting that we were not able to witness the full potential of her father, or even thank him for the work he did do, simply because he was murdered for standing up to the establishment and getting people involved.

So, before I close, I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. King for being such a powerful figure and for inspiring me to write this article so as to honor him. Because, Dr. King was not a peaceful man, he was a non-violent man. Let's get that straight.

As for white and other non-Black people, I wish you would cease invoking the name of King or any other Black figures who have been murdered, jailed, and abused in effort to call other Black people to action or criticize their fight. Black people are the inventors of activism. Waking up in the morning and doing our very best in a world that is constantly trying to destroy us, is activism.

Below, I’ve dropped some of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quotes that I have sat with over the years. I will also leave the link to his letter from Birmingham Jail so that, when you have time, you can really sit down and digest the information. I’d love to hear in the comments, what your thoughts, questions, or takeaways may be. I could even try to reach out to Ms. Bernice King and see if she would want to answer any or all of your questions to give us a better understanding of her fathers work.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. KING. WE ARE FOREVER GRATEFUL FOR ALL YOU DID IN YOUR SHORT TIME ON THIS PLANET. MAY YOUR MEMORY AND YOUR MESSAGE BE TRUTHFULLY PRESERVED AND SHARED, SO THAT WE MAY CONTINUE YOU WORK OF DISMANTLING THE SYSTEMS THAT KEEP PEOPLE FROM LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'”

“Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”

“For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.”

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

“Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love”

“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”

“We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.”

“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

"People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other."

"Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress."

"In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as ‘right-to-work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining… We demand this fraud be stopped."

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive