mlk 50
You dishonor the movement and a prophet if you just remember the prophet without having a revival of the movement he stood for.
- Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II
Dr. King was a martyr for his faith and vision. So often he has been infantilized among white Christians with nostalgic vigor. “Why don’t more black people act like him?” “Where is the peaceful non-violent resistance?” Even I once echoed these same sentiments. But he forcefully disrupted the negative peace in society which sought to turn a blind eye to inequality. He shut down businesses, roads, jails. He dared to believe in this radical dogma of humanity: that all are created in the image of God. He understood that injustice damaged not only the victims, but the perpetuators, and sought to restore that common humanity to all.
Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated on the eve of a truly historic and prophetic moment: arguing for economic justice in the face of a technological revolution. This Poor People’s Campaign was for guaranteed work, guaranteed income, and guaranteed housing for all poor people of all ethnic backgrounds. This prophetic vision stands ever more true today – as humanity we are intimately bound together on a shared home with finite resources with every growing inequality of opportunity.
As the US Bishops have stated: “The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of workers over the maximization of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion; the production to meet social needs over production for military purposes.”
So the fight continues. If you believed that Dr. King preached the gospel, the time is now to act – join the revival of the Poor People’s Campaign. If you disagree with his vision now, you know where you would have stood fifty years ago: a road block against the moral arc towards justice.