MLK DAY 2025
“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”
— Bob Marley
In the crisp light of a new morning the long arm of justice reaches out over centuries of brutality and fear, not with the cold fist of retaliation, but the reassuring embrace of compassion, love, and parity. In the perfect poetry of a moment in time there is one who steps up and speaks out; issuing a call to all men and women of vision to plot a path of resurgence imbued with dignity and grace thru a dark night of ignorance, violence, and fear. Dr. Martin Luther King was the light of this new morning that gave birth to the dawn of a new era.
They were to have no weapons, armed only with the truth of their plight. The truth of being regarded as second-class citizens in a country their friends and family had fought and died for in WWII. A war against Hitler, a tyrant with no more regard for them than many of those in the country they were defending. This would be a new and different war, a battleground strewn with the bodies of Emmett Till, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner among many others. This “war” on racism would be carried out by Dr. King and his affectionately named “Foot Soldiers”, as they were the “arm in arm” front line of resistance.
Dr. King’s influence continues to shape lives and attitudes. His contribution to the wellbeing of Black people and minorities around the world is the reassuring embrace that inspired Nelson Mandela to close his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize with the following words:
“Let the strivings of us all prove Martin Luther King, Jr. to have been correct when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war.”
To Dr. King the last word:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
Peace,
Al Obert
