On Monday evening, I attended the 34th Annual UNC Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture, where famous actor and best-selling author Hill Harper was this year’s keynote speaker.
A particular expression that Harper told the audience of about 1,000 attendants stood out to me. He said we now view King in a “revisionist” way.
In other words, we retrospectively view King in the most positive light possible even though at the climax of his greatest work many of his peers did not even agree with some of his tactics.
In modern times, we tend to bask and revel in the courageous work that was done by the people who came before us. However, the actual work toward achieving progress has remained rather stagnant. For example, today’s social movements lack the gumption of King’s efforts.
Some of the rights and beliefs we fight for are similar to those in the civil rights era, others are not. Regardless, similar conflicts for justice take place today whether they are about job creation, the economy or race relations — just to name a few.
Although it may be nearly 50 years after King’s death and many things have changed since then, this does not mean that movements for social and equality concerns should halt.
The fact that former Gov. Sarah Palin addressed the first African-American president in American history to request that he stop playing the race card on a day in honor of a man whose life was dedicated to improving the conditions of our country’s minority population is proof that the struggle is not over.
The work of King is not finished, and it will not be finished until we one day live in a society in which everyone feels comfortable regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or whatever the demographic may be.
However, this work cannot be accomplished slightly. As leaders and activists like Dr. King did during the battle for civil rights, we have to be creative in our methods of achieving justice as opposed to being satisfied.
We need to be the ones that are constantly challenging problems and concerns in our communities.
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended Jim Crow laws in the South and the concept of “separate, but equal,” we should look at ourselves and see if we are rightfully carrying on his dream.
In addition, we also must begin to think of Dr. King beyond the scope of academia in which we have been accustomed to since grade school. Instead, we should try to emulate his own actions. Just because things are “OK” doesn’t mean that they cannot be better.
