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The Meaning of the
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
By Coretta Scott King
Excerpted from
thekingcenter.com
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday celebrates
the life and legacy of a man who brought hope and healing to
America. We commemorate as well the timeless values he taught us
through his example -- the values of courage, truth, justice,
compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly
defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership. On
this holiday, we commemorate the universal, unconditional love,
forgiveness and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary
spirit.
We commemorate Dr. King’s inspiring words,
because his voice and his vision filled a great void in our
nation, and answered our collective longing to become a country
that truly lived by its noblest principles. Yet, Dr. King knew
that it wasn’t enough just to talk the talk, that he had to walk
the walk for his words to be credible. And so we commemorate on
this holiday the man of action, who put his life on the line for
freedom and justice every day, the man who braved threats and
jail and beatings and who ultimately paid the highest price to
make democracy a reality for all Americans.
The King Holiday honors the life and
contributions of America’s greatest champion of racial justice
and equality, the leader who not only dreamed of a color-blind
society, but who also lead a movement that achieved historic
reforms to help make it a reality.
On this day we commemorate Dr. King’s great
dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace
and reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for
children of every race and room at the inn for every needy
child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but
to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial
sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great
dream for America.
It is a day of interracial and intercultural
cooperation and sharing. No other day of the year brings so many
peoples from different cultural backgrounds together in such a
vibrant spirit of brother and sisterhood. Whether you are
African-American, Hispanic or Native American, whether you are
Caucasian or Asian-American, you are part of the great dream
Martin Luther King, Jr. had for America. This is not a black
holiday; it is a peoples' holiday. And it is the young people of
all races and religions who hold the keys to the fulfillment of
his dream.
We commemorate on this holiday the ecumenical
leader and visionary who embraced the unity of all faiths in
love and truth. And though we take patriotic pride that Dr. King
was an American, on this holiday we must also commemorate the
global leader who inspired nonviolent liberation movements
around the world. Indeed, on this day, programs commemorating my
husband’s birthday are being observed in more than 100 nations..
The King Holiday celebrates Dr. King’s global
vision of the world house, a world whose people and nations had
triumphed over poverty, racism, war and violence. The holiday
celebrates his vision of ecumenical solidarity, his insistence
that all faiths had something meaningful to contribute to
building the beloved community.
The Holiday commemorates America’s pre-eminent
advocate of nonviolence --- the man who taught by his example
that nonviolent action is the most powerful, revolutionary force
for social change available to oppressed people in their
struggles for liberation.
This holiday honors the courage of a man who
endured harassment, threats and beatings, and even bombings. We
commemorate the man who went to jail 29 times to achieve freedom
for others, and who knew he would pay the ultimate price for his
leadership, but kept on marching and protesting and organizing
anyway.
Every King holiday has been a national
"teach-in" on the values of nonviolence, including unconditional
love, tolerance, forgiveness and reconciliation, which are so
desperately-needed to unify America. It is a day of intensive
education and training in Martin’s philosophy and methods of
nonviolent social change and conflict-reconciliation. The
Holiday provides a unique opportunity to teach young people to
fight evil, not people, to get in the habit of asking
themselves, "what is the most loving way I can resolve this
conflict?"
On the King holiday, young people learn about
the power of unconditional love even for one's adversaries as a
way to fight injustice and defuse violent disputes. It is a time
to show them the power of forgiveness in the healing process at
the interpersonal as well as international levels.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is not only for
celebration and remembrance, education and tribute, but above
all a day of service. All across America on the Holiday, his
followers perform service in hospitals and shelters and prisons
and wherever people need some help. It is a day of volunteering
to feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, tutoring those who
can't read, mentoring at-risk youngsters, consoling the
broken-hearted and a thousand other projects for building the
beloved community of his dream.
Dr. King once said that we all have to decide
whether we "will walk in the light of creative altruism or the
darkness of destructive selfishness. Life's most persistent and
nagging question, he said, is `what are you doing for others?'"
he would quote Mark 9:35, the scripture in which Jesus of
Nazareth tells James and John "...whosoever will be great among
you shall be your servant; and whosoever among you will be the
first shall be the servant of all." And when Martin talked about
the end of his mortal life in one of his last sermons, on
February 4, 1968 in the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church, even
then he lifted up the value of service as the hallmark of a full
life. "I'd like somebody to mention on that day Martin Luther
King, Jr. tried to give his life serving others," he said. "I
want you to say on that day, that I did try in my life...to love
and serve humanity.
We call you to commemorate this Holiday by
making your personal commitment to serve humanity with the
vibrant spirit of unconditional love that was his greatest
strength, and which empowered all of the great victories of his
leadership. And with our hearts open to this spirit of
unconditional love, we can indeed achieve the Beloved Community
of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream.
May we who follow Martin now pledge to serve humanity, promote
his teachings and carry forward his legacy into the 21st
Century.
Visit The
King Center
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