Monday, January 16, 2017

De Martin Luther King ab Amico in VultuLibro

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

A very devout and perceptive friend on Facebook  - James P. [the last name is designated with an initial so as to protect his anonymity] - posted the following text today regarding the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Please note before we begin that the term Reverend prefaced the title and name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This man was a Christian minister - NOT a secularist, NOT an agnostic, NOT an atheist, NOT a humanist, BUT a Christian. And it is Christianity which first recognized (in the face of Rome's libertine paganism and Athens' secularist philosophy) universal equality in dignity some 2000 years ago when St. Paul wrote in Colossians 3:11:

Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scyth′ian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.

It is ONLY because we are created in the image and likeness of God that we are equal in dignity. If we are mere animals as the secularist atheists assert, then it is strength of the fittest to survive which rules and no equality in dignity exists. Indeed, it is from a lack of God that we get racism and prejudice and stereotype and all the other social justice ills which plague mankind. Those are the things which secularism, atheism and humanism bring.

Nevertheless, before I get carried away again and without further ado, here is what my friend so wisely wrote:

"But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 8/28/63
It has taken me most of my life to appreciate what Rev. King said and did. Watching the events of the Presidency of Barack Obama has made me realize what was said back then is being unfortunately played out now. We have turned a real and rational struggle for equal rights and equal opportunity into the march of racism and vengeance. 53 years later we have had black Supreme Court Justices, Senators, Representatives, CEOs. A black man has run for and achieved the highest political office in the land. Yet we are called racist every day... Rev. King in almost a prophetic moment said:
"The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom."
Yet today we look around and see white people blamed for everything from global warming to micro aggressions. We have black activists calling for the death of all whites. We have black representatives claiming a white man cannot be president and it's racist to simply disagree with him.
Instead of all this Rev King challenged us with:
"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
"Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Now on this day I will honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King by doing my job, working, doing my best to remember to love my neighbor, and I will continue to have hope in our future.

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