by Larry McEnany

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 -April 4, 1968) I wanted to write a few lines about one of the most prolific, insightful, intelligent, and peaceful promoters for the advancement of the blacks in the United States. He was so respected for the work he had done that in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a Federal holiday in honor of him.

He was a co-pastor from 1960-1968 of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the same church his father and grandfather served as pastor. Martin Luther King attended segregated public schools in Georgia graduating high school at the age of 15. He received a B.A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College. His father and grandfather graduated from the same college.

He also studied at Crozer Theological Seminary in PA. He was elected president of his senior class, that was predominantly white. He then enrolled in Boston University, where he completed his residence for a doctorate, and received his degree in 1955.

He joined and was a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In December 1955, he was part of the leadership of a great Negro nonviolent demonstration of segregated busing. The boycott went on for 382 days, until the Supreme Court declared this segregation unconstitutional. Blacks and Whites then rode the buses as equals.

Between 1957-1968, he spoke over 2,500 times and traveled 6 million miles, to speak wherever there was injustice and protest. He was involved in the drives in Alabama to register blacks to vote. He directed the peaceful march on D.C. where he addressed 250,000 people with his “I Have a Dream” speech.  In 1963 he was named Man of the Year by Time magazine. He received the Noble Peace Prize at the age of 25, and donated the prize money to further the civil rights movement. His accomplishments were many, until his assassination, in Memphis, TN. on April 4,1968.

His work is a stark contrast to what we see today in the U.S.. We seem to have turned to violence and destruction with very little regard for humanity. The summer of 2020 comes to mind, and resulted in riots that killed many people, and caused billions of dollars damage to white and black businesses. Though I agree on the theme of BLM, as well as all lives matter, we have since learned that the organization is nothing more than a fraudulent and criminal organization that has done nothing for the advancement of the black community.  An MLK quote says it best, ”In the long run of history, destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends”.

Then we have the most recent protest/riots over the Israeli and Hamas war. You first have to ask yourself, how long would we tolerate indiscriminate bombing for years of the city you live in from a neighboring country, before you would strike back? Our college students misinformed and uneducated to the point in some cases are asking for the genocide of a race. Our educators of some of the most elite colleges and institutions have been complacent in ending these protests. When President Claudine Gay of Harvard University,  was asked if she was opposed to the genocide of the Jews, she answered with, ”it would depend on the context”. That answer should be concerning to everyone.

The Palestinians in Gaza have made a mortifying mistake by allowing Hamas to control them. Hamas is nothing but terrorists that use the Palestinians as human shields, and have absolutely no respect for human life. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthi are only interested in wiping the Jews and western civilizations from the face of the earth. Iran is the major contributor in support of these terrorists.  They are to blame for the loss of innocent lives. If our young  people would spend 30 minutes educating themselves, these protests would subside, but unfortunately our educators have indoctrinated, not educated our youth.

We continue to teach CRT (critical race theory) which was introduced in the 70’s because the civil rights movement was losing momentum. The approach of CRT is in contrast to MLK’s approach for unity of people. We also have DEI, which emerged in the mid 60’s, skyrocketing after George Floyd’s murder. Since covid there has been a decline in the DEI by 600 companies that are phasing out employees of DEI positions. Some reasons for moving away from DEI is the difference between equity vs. equality, and the more diverse the team members the more employees are experiencing biases, discrimination, and harassment. LinkedIn polled 500 respondents, 40% felt the future of DEI will see less investment and funding, 25% feel there will be less focus on race and racism, 19% feel the end of DEI is near, and 16% believe DEI will stay the same.

There hasn’t seemed to be a better solution for race relations than that of MLK’s approach, love, caring, non violent, and education. I end with one of his quotes.

“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.”