“Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict

suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you … But be assured that we’ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.'”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., December, 1967





Profound words, spoken or written, are the equivalent of trunks of well-worn oak trees — they take deep roots and produce strong, winding branches of introspection, learning, growth.

For this Mississippi boy, reared in a home where the Bible, daddy’s belt and fresh cornbread are synonymous, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — like the ones above — have taken some of the deepest roots in my heart and mind over the years.

About four years ago, I wrote a column for this newspaper about why I respected Dr. King, and what his message meant to me. I wrote about how at an early age, before I read his speeches, I was unaware as to who he really was and what he stood for, therefore not capable of defending him … let alone his legacy.

What I remember most about that column was the reaction that followed. At the time, I was a reporter. I rarely opined on the opinion page; my words were better placed to detail news stories and in a more objective fashion. But I decided to offer my thoughts and write about one of my heroes — Dr. King. I had no idea it would spark such an intense and hate-filled reaction.

After reading some of the letters I received in response to that column and after listening to some of the voicemails, you’d have thought I wrote “Black Power” or “Kill Whitey.” Many of the statements and accusations that spewed from the lips and pens of readers were disheartening to say the least.

What was even worse than the statements made: the cowardly way in which they made them. Many lacked the courage to even put a return address on their letter. Others failed to leave a phone number or name when they called. It was interesting to me that some felt so strongly about their own opinions that they felt the need to write a letter or call — bashing me as a traitor to my own race while educating me on why I should oppose Dr. King — yet they lacked the courage to identify themselves in any way.

They, more than anyone, needed to educate themselves on the words and message of Dr. King. Maybe then they could experience real courage. It’s ironic when someone lacks the mental fortitude to leave a return address in a letter blasting a man like King who epitomized bravery.

Dr. King never once backed down from the cowardly acts of his opposition. He was spat upon, jailed, called ungodly names, threatened, beaten. Yet he never retaliated, not once. Instead, he showed his strength through his love and nonviolent stance. Truth be told, he showed more mettle on any given day of his life than some will in a lifetime.

In reference to the Montgomery bus boycott, Dr. King may have summed it up best when he said: “Courage faces fear and thereby masters it. Cowardice represses fear and is thereby mastered by it. Courageous men never lose the zest for living even though their life situation is zestless; cowardly men, overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, lose the will to love.”

The key word: fear. To me, the bulk of mis-guided hatred is born out of fear. For many, it’s a fear of change. And often times, those people fear the things they don’t take the time to understand. It’s actually easier for some to believe in and perpetuate an inaccurate perception than to research the truth. If they’d take the time to read Dr. King’s words, maybe they would understand what he truly stood for and they too would celebrate his legacy rather than hate it.

I have to believe that most of us, if we’d open our eyes and our ears in an effort to equip ourselves with the right information, would also open our hearts.

It was through experiences like these that I tired of hearing how far we’d come as a society. True enough, my generation may practice less obvious racism than my parent’s generation, but it still exists … too much of it. A prime example: the fact that people in 2008 still feel the need to publicly announce that they don’t celebrate Dr. King’s birthday. Sad, but true.

Not only does such prejudice and bias still exist, proof that we’ve not improved as much as we’d like to think, but we, as a society, have actually worsened with regards to classism. It’s the land of the have and the have-nots. We’ve spread our preferential treatment of some and discrimination of others to include not only differences in skin color, but differences in earning potential, family lineage, and education level. In the form of favoritism and partiality, our new battle ground may be less obvious, but no less of an injustice, and we should fight against it.

Dr. King called us to resist complacency — in our fight against injustice and in our love of God and others.

The God I serve calls me to love my neighbors, to place others before myself. My God calls me to love those around me, not hate them. But He also calls me to be an advocate for those with the least in our society. We have to lower ourselves and exalt others.

One of the most admirable things about Dr. King was his humility. He once said: “Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.”

So this year, as we celebrate Dr. King’s birthday, I pray that I, as he urged us all to do, can learn from my enemies, learn from those who try to cause me harm. But in all honesty, I pray just as earnestly that the opposition will take the time to learn more about and understand fully what it is this great leader believed in, stood for, and advocated.



Fredie Carmichael is editor of The Meridian Star. E-mail him at fcarmichael@themeridianstar.com.