DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

THE REVEREND

Dr. King was a special man. He was educated. He was eloquent. He was energetic. Martin Luther King was a true American. He was an ardent advocate of democracy. He believed deeply in equality. He believed, even more deeply, in freedom, freedom and equality for all mankind. He believed in the inalienable rights, which are in fact the rights of all human beings as so made known by our beloved DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Those declared rights were inalienable rights. They were God-given, and they could not be changed or removed by any man or woman. Those rights were embodied in the Constitution of the United States, beginning with our very first amendment which guaranteed the rights of religion, freedom of speech, press, assembly, petition. Those were essential, inalienable rights, and could not be done away with or even abridged in any way. Then there was the fourth amendment, and subsequently 27 other amendments, some of which specifically granted to minorities, but every such amendment guaranteed some aspect of fundamental rights, including and especially equality, equal protection under the law, and equal opportunity economically and in terms of education.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, genetically deep in Martin Luther King, led him to remind America, all of us, time and again, of his famous quotation:

“I HAVE A DREAM!”

The American Dream, where all men and women are free and equal. He gave his life, literally, to the cause of the freedom and equality in which he so passionately believed. How much WE THE PEOPLE take this freedom, the most important asset of all mankind, for granted. Some hardly know there is a Declaration of Independence, or a Constitution of the United States, two of the finest documents ever written by mankind, much less what those documents contain. They have never read them. So many Americans know very little about their rights until they don’t have them.

So many take so much for granted, especially that there will always be Life, Liberty, and the right to the Pursuit of Happiness. The reality is that all of these rights, whether inalienable or not, are merely no more then one generation away from extinction and loss, the famous rejoinder of President Ronald Regan. How true that is. Every man and every woman are God-created, even as Martin Luther King was. All are equal, and all are loved equally by God, no matter the color of the skin. Diversity and ethnicity, race, color, were the objectives of creation. No man or woman was ever meant to be a slave, to be subjected to any other man. No human being was ever intended to live life without freedom, without rights, without equality, none anywhere at any time. The fact that Blacks began life in America as slaves is absolutely abhorrent, biblically contradictory, and constitutionally appalling. So much so, that in America there came the great Civil War of the 1860s which resulted in the freedom of the Blacks, but not freedom for the Blacks. That war marked the beginning of the end of slavery, but not the beginning of freedom and equality. That, sad to say, continues to be a work in progress.

Freedom has both rights and duties. All men, especially black and white, as they claim and exercise those rights, must recognize the duties involved. Freedom must be protected, preserved, knowing that this very same freedom is the property, the right of every other human being. Every black must respect full freedom for every white, and every white must respect that very same full freedom for every black. There can be no exception. And, in the exercise of that precious right of freedom, the freedom of any other human being can not be abridged. RIGHTS REQUIRE DUTIES. And there is a duty on the part of every American to protect that freedom, to respect it, to learn everything possible about it, to spread it to the world at large, for there can not be a human being alive who does not cherish freedom and a life to be pursued for happiness and fulfillment. NOT ONE!

But there is even a higher freedom which the Rev. Martin Luther King surely knew and believed in, and that is the freedom for all human kind offered by his Lord and ours, Jesus Christ. That freedom is incredibly special, one of a kind. It is true freedom from transgressions, real liberty, the application of the new law of love, and the opportunity to live life rejoicing, fulfilled, and free. That right of salvation is the inalienable right granted by God for every human being. We, therefore, can claim the promises of the American dream of Martin Luther King and the rights and freedoms of the God-given dream, so to speak, in Jesus Christ.

In my view, there is one sure way to chip away at racism. Befriend one person of a different race, white for black or black for white. Relate and build friendship one on one. That person, previously identified by skin, can become a friend, and a mutual understanding will occur, and grow, and be a tremendous learning experience. Racism can only be cured by the love of God and the caring of one human being for another.

I detest racism. I was brought up in a family which never really discussed racism because all men and woman in their eyes were created equal. There is no racism, I am proud to say, in my company, and if that disease should ever rear its ugly head, I would eradicate it immediately. I was brought up to believe, and do so this very day and all my life, the words of that wonderful childhood song:

JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN

ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD

RED AND YELLOW, BLACK AND WHITE

THEY ARE SPECIAL IN HIS SIGHT

JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD

And so He does. And so should we.

Black can only respect and love white, and white can only love and respect black, if both black and white learn, believe in, and apply to their lives the words, the message, the love, of that precious little gospel song.