Happy MLK! As I’ve been reflecting on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I couldn’t help but wonder about the real impact of the man and the mission. So I thought what better way to ponder that than to shed a light on how (or perhaps more accurately, whether) we are doing our part to continue to work towards his Dream.
Growing up, we learned that Dr. King was a major proponent of nonviolence. In fact, it was part of his strength and his appeal. Because no matter what his opposition did to belittle and diminish him, he continued to stand firm on his position that “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”
Recently, I’ve been listening to the podcast, The MLK Tapes and while it’s no secret the level of hatred that existed (and probably still exists to some extent) for Dr. King, listening to them unravel the plot and reason for his assassination, I feel that I understand even more just how important his existence and efforts really were. Every generation needs a leader who comes along and shakes everything up and turns the world infrastructure upside down.
I’m not naive, I realize that the Civil Rights movement was far bigger and reached beyond the sphere of the charismatic Baptist preacher from Atlanta. But there’s no denying that he commanded his platform—as I read my way through both Becoming and A Promised Land, I see more and more parallels between Dr. King and my forever President, Barack Obama (but that’s a discussion for another post). This, as it usually does when a Black man dares believe that he and those who look like him, unsettle the powers that be—and there was no way that they (the powers) were going to stand for it.
In bringing down Dr. King, they thought it would discourage and derail the efforts of the movement. And while his assassination, and that of Robert Kennedy a few months later, did cause a bit of disruption, the truth is—as long as there is oppression of Black and brown people, there will always be people willing to stand up and fight to bring about real change.
And while we often spend a lot of time discussing his most famous speeches, sit-ins, and the march on Washington, we often give less attention to the core of his position at the time of his passing. Dr. King had a message to Black people as well as to the system. He wanted his people to understand their power and their beauty. In fact, SoulFull Expression’s mission and purpose was greatly inspired by his words to a group of high school students in 1967:
“I’ve come here tonight and plead with you. Be proud of yourself and believe that you’re somebody. I said to a group last night, ‘Nobody else can do this for us.’ No document can do this for us. No Lincolnian proclamation can do this for us; no Kennedysonian or Johnsonian civil rights bill can do this for us. If the Negro is to be free he must move down into the inner resources of his own soul and sign, with a pen and ink of self-asserted manhood, his own Emancipation Proclamation.
Don’t let anybody take your manhood. Be proud of our heritage; as somebody said earlier tonight, we don’t have anything to be ashamed of. Somebody told a lie one day. They couched it in language. They made everything black, ugly and evil. Look in your dictionary and see the synonyms of the word ‘black.’ It’s always something degrading and low and sinister. Look at the word, ‘white.’ It’s always some pure, high and mighty. I want to get the language so right that everybody here will cry out, Yes I’m Black and I’m proud of it. I’m Black and I’m beautiful.”
These words were so powerful and profound to me that they have become the launchpad for everything I’d like to achieve through SoulFull Expression. I realized that until we find a love and appreciation for ourselves and understand that there is power and value within, we will continue to struggle against the weights of the systems in this country.
And thus we come to how I am doing my part to continue the Dream in 2023. Through the arm of SoulFull Expression, I will continue to inspire the pride in heritage and self-love that Dr. King spoke about. Some might say that this has no real impact on society and helps to bring about no real change. And to those naysayers, I simply say this: speaking life and hope into people always help cultivate change. Reminding people that they have value and that they are more than what the outside world depicts helps to shift mindsets. And as the scripture says, the battle is not against the flesh but against principalities (or spirits). And what places does spirits like to occupy? People’s minds.
So if we can help encourage, uplift, and inspire the Black community to unite and support one another—and release the crabs in a barrel mindset that has kept us at odds within ourselves—we can continue to build a world that embodies the Dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
