Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: Not All Men Are Created Equal

I wasn't born when Martin Luther King's life came to an abrupt end; when that bullet that terminated his life ignited fear, hate, despair and urgency throughout America. In grade school our exposure to this man came in the form of our teacher's opinion - the collaborative interests of our educators. We read the famous, I Have A Dream speech and then waited until the following year to repeat the same process. As a youth, while I always understood him to be an important figure in our nations history, it would be years before I really understood the importance of a day of recognition for him and a shock when I realized the passion I harbored for a man who left behind a spirit that is so integrated into American society it almost becomes unrecognized.

In grade school, when I pictured Dr. Martin Luther King, I saw him as a man who freed the slaves. I saw a man who spoke powerful words and changed... "things." Being a beneficiary of his sacrifices and deeds I failed to comprehend that I owed it to him and those who followed him for being in a classroom with friends of various backgrounds. That he, as a benefactor to my generation, was a man combating modern issues and while slavery no longer existed in the United States subjugation and oppression was still very much a reality.

High school refined my knowledge and though still vague, I am ashamed to admit I was content with knowing as little as I did. It would be during my own personal research of Robert Kennedy that my genuine admiration for Dr. Martin Luther King would surface. And so I wonder, on his day of recognition, do we recognize the greatness that epitomizes the man, acknowledge the tumultuous years he helped define or do we celebrate the spirit he bestowed upon us that has become as much a part of our livelihood as the words left by the founding fathers of our nation?

Dr. Martin Luther King was a man of vision. Trite as that may sound, there are few men who have vision and even fewer who act upon it. An educated man, he chose his words carefully; words of action, conviction and peaceful rebellion during a time of social strife and despite the risk of peril to his own safety and the safety of those whom he loved. To have tempered those times with such restraint proves a man of the utmost discipline and leadership that mirrors those in the ranks of our nations greatest generals.

The sixties, a storm of social unrest, swept not only our nation but the world, leaving valiant men like Dr. King amongst its casualties; fallen heroes all of whom helped define a decade and set in motion a wave of unparalleled change. His words, spoken so passionately in our country, echoed across the oceans in nations where freedom of speech was, and in some cases still is, an unfathomable luxury. War, subjugation, poverty and the demise of individual self worth had become a global plague visionaries like Dr. King brought to conscientiousness of an entire generation.

Finally, the spirit he bestowed upon us is best defined in his own words. Upon accepting his Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King states;

Every time I take a flight I am always mindful of the many people who make a successful journey possible -- the known pilots and the unknown ground crew.

So you honor the dedicated pilots of our struggle who have sat at the controls as the freedom movement soared into orbit. You honor, once again, Chief (Albert) Lutuli of South Africa, whose struggles with and for his people, are still met with the most brutal expression of man's inhumanity to man. You honor the ground crew without whose labor and sacrifices the jet flights to freedom could never have left the earth. Most of these people will never make the headlines and their names will not appear in Who's Who. Yet when years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvelous age in which we live -- men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people, a more noble civilization -- because these humble children of God were willing to suffer for righteousness' sake.

I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners -- all those to whom beauty is truth and truth beauty -- and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.

November 4, 2008 I, like so many other Americans and people around the world, sat before my television and watched in awe as Senator Barack Obama entered the pages of history becoming America's first African American President. I wept; I wept as I understood the beauty of the victory. I thought of Dr. Martin Luther King and the freedom riders I read about in history books. I thought of Robert Kennedy and other courageous men who shared Dr. King's vision; his dream. It was a dream come to fruition not only for the late Dr. Martin Luther King but for the thousands of African Americans and other peoples world wide who have suffered and are suffering at the hands of those who wish to oppress them out of ignorance and unwarranted hate. That American's had enough faith in a person, whom only decades ago would not have been permitted to run for public office due to the color of his skin, is evidence that there is hope. Hope that the words written by America's founding fathers so long ago, All Men Are Created Equal, are not only beautifully written on paper but that it has merit and that in the foreseeable future, these words will not only be the mantra of America but of the world.