It’s important for today’s young people to recall the history of the civil rights movement in America. Unfortunately, too many Millennials and Gen Z consider civil rights history as ancient history at the dawn of a new century.
However, as America honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK), there are profound and poignant lessons which more of today’s young people need to learn — most importantly, how to make major changes in society through the type of peaceful means championed by Dr. King and his fellow civil rights leaders of the time.
A term of significance for young people to comprehend is: “civil disobedience.”
Preaching Non-Violence
Dr. King staked his life and legacy on preaching non-violence, similar to that of Mahatma Gandhi during the independence movement of India, a country then controlled by British rule. In fact, Dr. King is said to have greatly admired and closely studied Gandhi’s successful strategy of non-violent opposition, which MLK emulated via the civil rights movement across the USA.
MLK promoted civil disobedience in the face of vicious police brutality and mass jailing of peaceful demonstrators — including himself — which were commonplace during his time.
Both Dr. King and Gandhi met their untimely deaths at the hand of an assassin’s bullet, which is the ultimate price to pay for fostering peace and freedom on a grand scale. Unlike some black leaders of the 1960s who heeded calls for violence from militant groups, like the Black Panthers, Dr. King persevered with a solid strategy of civil disobedience. Dr. King’s steadfastness and perseverance paid off through the enactment of groundbreaking civil rights laws that altered the course of American history.
Therefore, more young people should be taught that peaceful means of protest championed by Dr. King, via free speech and free expression, ultimately resulted in historic gains via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These landmark civil rights laws changed America for the better and began to usher in a new era of increased equality and opportunity for all citizens, regardless of race and color.
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What Would MLK Say Today?
While the sweeping civil rights laws of the 1960s obviously did not cure all societal ills, they have certainly had a long-term positive impact on the fabric of America. Thus, today’s teens and 20-somethings who might be prone to violence and knee-jerk reactions during police confrontations need to recall, abide by and honor the legacy of non-violence taught by Dr. King.
Today’s young people should ask themselves these timely questions:
- What would MLK say regarding worsening racial tensions between law enforcement and citizens of color, especially young black men?
- Would Dr. King castigate and rally against racial profiling and other alleged discriminatory police tactics that may disproportionately affect citizens of color? And, if so, what strategies might he employ?
- Would MLK condone or encourage rioting, looting, and burning down community small businesses due to media sensationalism of racial incidents with police?
- Or, would he openly castigate such conduct and lead massive peaceful demonstrations instead?
I surmise that Dr. King would strongly denounce the unlawful rioting, violence, and theft that has occurred in American cities from Baltimore to Oakland and Staten Island to Ferguson. Each of these events was precipitated by alleged racial incidents between police and young black men.
Further, I think Dr. King would call for non-violent demonstrations similar to the effective national protests, marches, and boycotts he led in the early 1960s, which changed public opinion and altered the course of U.S. history.
These observations are based on Dr. King’s historic legacy of leadership in championing civil disobedience in the face of egregious discrimination.
Dr. King referred to non-violence as “a sword that heals.” He said, for example:
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.
Testing the Nation’s Conscience
Dr. King, the late Congressman John Lewis, and other civil rights leaders of the 1960s persistently tested the nation’s conscience about racism, bias and bigotry. Their unwavering discipline and fortitude through strict adherence to non-violence is why minds were changed and historic progress was made.
TV images and news photos of peaceful protesters being beaten bloody by police, hosed down, and attacked by police dogs caused most whites to take a hard look in the mirror when pondering such outrageous overreactions by law enforcement – actions which ultimately backfired.
Congressman Lewis, then a young civil rights leader, was nearly beaten to death by police during a pivotal civil rights march in Alabama that became known as “Bloody Sunday” — a common story exemplifying the unjust times. That’s why more Millennials and Gen Z need to realize that non-violence was the core foundation of Dr. King’s effective leadership and ability to alter the course of American history for the better.
The Big Question
It should be obvious to any objective observer that the civil rights struggle is far from over. There’s still too much discrimination based on race, color, and a host of other factors, from the workplace to every place in America. Racial bias is still a persistent problem in too many aspects of modern-day society.
Perhaps what has changed most is that racism, bias, and bigotry are more subtle and less overt today compared to prior times. Many point to so-called “unconscious” or “unintentional” discrimination at the heart of some in white America. But there’s arguably nothing unconscious or unintentional about burning down black churches or police killing unarmed black youth, among other things grotesquely witnessed nationwide in recent years.
In hindsight, many citizens of every race, color, and creed had sincerely hoped that the election of the nation’s first black President would result in a post-racial society. But this promise has failed to materialize, despite a new generation of young people who tend to look beyond the lens of race.
Thus, the big question arises: What more must be done to make the bold “dream” Dr. King spoke of on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial a shining reality in 21st century America?
This is a critically important question to consider as we observe the federal holiday honoring the life and legacy of MLK. In essence, we must all ask ourselves where we go from here?
What strategies should a new generation of leadership leverage to create the kind of society in which all people are judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin, as Dr. King spoke of half a century ago? Are the answers simply too elusive in today’s multiracial, multiethnic and multicultural world?
What do YOU think?
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This post is an updated version of the original, which was published on linkedin.com and is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: Martin Luther King, Jr. photographed by Marion S. Trikosko, 1964. LC-DIG-ppmsc-01269 Source: Library of Congress