OPINION: Lessons from Martin Luther King’s life that are practical and perpetual

This week we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday not in the same way that we celebrate that of a favorite cousin. Rather, we celebrate his birthday nationally because of the gifts that he gave and the traits that he possessed, indeed because of the lessons that we can learn from his life, which he shared with us and gave for us.

As we celebrate this 97th year of King’s birth, the writer is pleased to present nine facts, illustrated in King’s life that the writer finds to be of practical value. They are truly perpetual lessons for each individual and generation that is willing to learn.

1. King, like Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and others before him, lived daily with death threats. That is clear not just from his own testimony and FBI records. There are also the physical attacks and near attacks in New York and Cicero. Yet, his personal courage propelled him onward because of his commitment to the movement. Such courageous commitment helps to show us the way.

2. King was ever ready to join coalitions or cooperate with others in order to advance the cause. That was played out in his joining James Meredith’s March against Fear, his offering support to Medgar Evers’ boycott in Jackson, and in responding to the garbage workers in Memphis. Such efforts can help destroy the belief that Black people cannot unite.

3. Against the advice of more than a few Black and white supporters, King publicly dramatized his opposition to the War against Vietnam. This demonstrated his willingness to stand for what is morally right. It was the kind of moral courage that is often needed, but sorely lacking on many national issues today. We often see the laxity in others but not in ourselves.

4. In many of his essays and speeches, King uncovered economic greed as the major culprit in the American race problem. He did so most effectively in his speeches launching “the War on Poverty.” If he was alive today, he would surely join with those who emphasize the term “systemic racism” of what the writer has often referred to as “institutional racism.” The problem is still with us and still needs to be called out and dealt with. 

5. Beginning with the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the establishment of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King stressed the importance of organizing. Communities needed to be organized to carry out particular events and communities needed to be organized for the movement and the idea of non-violent protests in general. King’s penchant for organizing was carried to an even higher level by the likes of Stokley Carmichael and is critical in the struggle today. 

6. Perhaps because of his personality as well as his educational background, King carefully studied conditions and situations he and the movement came up against and responded with intellect as well as emotion. It can be clearly seen in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. His reasoning can also be seen in most of his public speeches and essays. The King approach, of first clearly understanding and articulating the problem, is advantageous in virtually every situation.

7. In his work as a Baptist minister, King honed his skill in public speaking. He understood and appreciated the power of the spoken word to move and inspire people. That is quite evident in his “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington, his “Mountain Top” speech in Memphis, and other lesser-known assemblages. That gift and the lesson drawn therefrom served other leaders, such as Frederick Douglass, Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Sojourner Truth, and Nelson Mandala quite well, and can do the same for contemporary and future leaders.

8. As he embraced a call to leadership in the movement, King dutifully studied and adopted the approach of non-violent protest. While he acknowledged that not everybody could appreciate and practice the non-violent tactic, he and many of his followers used it to win over many white people who were officials, businesspersons, reporters, and ordinary citizens. As further testimonies to the effectiveness of non-violent protests, America soon witnessed the same tactic being used by other groups, including labor organizers, Latina farm workers, gay and lesbian rights advocates, and Native Americans. In essence, the power of such PROTESTING can never be discounted.

9. Throughout his life as an activist and organizer, King drew strength and support from his immediate families, the one into which he was born and the one which he and his wife created as well as from the set of spiritual values he nurtured and religious affiliations he adopted. He often spoke lovingly of them and interacted with them constantly.

These facts, illustrated in King’s life, are obviously not the property of King alone. Many other people share or have demonstrated the same. Our task here has been to point to such traits and revelations that are practical and valuable in and of themselves, which when viewed together, can help explain King’s success and attraction, and if and when practiced by other leaders, can dramatically improve the society in which we live.