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MLK Revisited

Posted on Jan 19th, 2009 by

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In waking up to Martin Luther King Day its hard not to envision his historical speech, “I have a Dream” so I went over to You Tube and watched the entire speech a couple of times.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream

The Complete "I have a Dream Speech." 11 minutes

In listening to his impassioned voice of faith and reason, justice and equality, I couldn’t help but think of the central point of his “vision of a completely integrated society, a community of love and justice wherein brotherhood would be an actuality in all of social life.” Or what he called "The solidarity of the human family"

I like to believe his Legacy lives on in more then a sound bite once a year, or a token acknowledgment of a man most have never heard. That by his life, actions and words we continue to seek after the Dream of a “Beloved Community”.

Martin Luther was an integralist who believed we are all dependent upon one another, that "the concept of brotherhood” was “a vision of total interrelatedness.”

"Whether we realize it or not, each of us lives eternally ‘in the red.’ “Recognition of one’s indebtedness to past generations should inhibit the sense of self-sufficiency and promote awareness that personal growth cannot take place apart from meaningful relationships with other persons, that the "I" cannot attain fulfillment without the "Thou."

He had no illusions of the mountains that would need to be climbed, nor of the struggle in raising people’s consciousness to the economic injustice that a consumerist capitalist society breeds. A structure that by its very nature feeds off the inequality and injustice of the poor while given privilege to the few.

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"It is . . . essential to notice that the two elements, the holy outcast
and the blessed community, must go together. Without the vision
of restored community, the holiness ascribed to the poor would fall far
short of politics and result in a mere perpetuation of charity and
service activities’’ [On Not Leaving It to the Snake (Macmillan, 1967). P. 133].

I am thankful for the inspiration that he gave others and continues to give today as his spirit lives on. I am thankful of others out there who have a dream and a vision. Like many here at Zaads who are committed visionaries spreading seeds of hope and love for a “Beloved Community”. Each of us, by defining the integrated self, seeks to expand the awareness and consciousness of others in a meaningful way. To help others realize the unlimited potential that resides within all of us to make a better world. To Make Poverty History by actualizing the belief that it all starts with ONE.