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The Martin Luther King, Jr.
Holiday celebrates the life and legacy of a man who brought hope
and healing to America. We commemorate as well the timeless
values he taught us through his example -- the values of
courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and
service that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and
empowered his leadership. On this holiday, we commemorate the
universal, unconditional love, forgiveness and nonviolence that
empowered his revolutionary spirit.
We commemorate Dr. King’s inspiring words, because his voice
and his vision filled a great void in our nation, and answered
our collective longing to become a country that truly lived by
its noblest principles. Yet, Dr. King knew that it wasn’t
enough just to talk the talk, that he had to walk the walk for
his words to be credible. And so we commemorate on this holiday
the man of action, who put his life on the line for freedom and
justice every day, the man who braved threats and jail and
beatings and who ultimately paid the highest price to make
democracy a reality for all Americans.
The King Holiday honors the life and contributions of
America’s greatest champion of racial justice and equality,
the leader who not only dreamed of a color-blind society, but
who also lead a movement that achieved historic reforms to help
make it a reality.
On this day we commemorate Dr. King’s great dream of a
vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and
reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for
children of every race and room at the inn for every needy
child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but
to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial
sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great
dream for America.
It is a day of interracial and intercultural cooperation and
sharing. No other day of the year brings so many peoples from
different cultural backgrounds together in such a vibrant spirit
of brother and sisterhood. Whether you are African-American,
Hispanic or Native American, whether you are Caucasian or
Asian-American, you are part of the great dream Martin Luther
King, Jr. had for America. This is not a black holiday; it is a
peoples' holiday. And it is the young people of all races and
religions who hold the keys to the fulfillment of his dream.
We commemorate on this holiday the ecumenical leader and
visionary who embraced the unity of all faiths in love and
truth. And though we take patriotic pride that Dr. King was an
American, on this holiday we must also commemorate the global
leader who inspired nonviolent liberation movements around the
world. Indeed, on this day, programs commemorating my
husband’s birthday are being observed in more than 100
nations.
The King Holiday celebrates Dr. King’s global vision of the
world house, a world whose people and nations had triumphed over
poverty, racism, war and violence. The holiday celebrates his
vision of ecumenical solidarity, his insistence that all faiths
had something meaningful to contribute to building the beloved
community.
The Holiday commemorates America’s pre-eminent advocate of
nonviolence --- the man who taught by his example that
nonviolent action is the most powerful, revolutionary force for
social change available to oppressed people in their struggles
for liberation.
This holiday honors the courage of a man who endured harassment,
threats and beatings, and even bombings. We commemorate the man
who went to jail 29 times to achieve freedom for others, and who
knew he would pay the ultimate price for his leadership, but
kept on marching and protesting and organizing anyway.
Every King holiday has been a national "teach-in" on
the values of nonviolence, including unconditional love,
tolerance, forgiveness and reconciliation, which are so
desperately-needed to unify America. It is a day of intensive
education and training in Martin’s philosophy and methods of
nonviolent social change and conflict-reconciliation. The
Holiday provides a unique opportunity to teach young people to
fight evil, not people, to get in the habit of asking
themselves, "what is the most loving way I can resolve this
conflict?"
On the King holiday, young people learn about the power of
unconditional love even for one's adversaries as a way to fight
injustice and defuse violent disputes. It is a time to show them
the power of forgiveness in the healing process at the
interpersonal as well as international levels.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is not only for celebration and
remembrance, education and tribute, but above all a day of
service. All across America on the Holiday, his followers
perform service in hospitals and shelters and prisons and
wherever people need some help. It is a day of volunteering to
feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, tutoring those who can't
read, mentoring at-risk youngsters, consoling the broken-hearted
and a thousand other projects for building the beloved community
of his dream.
Dr. King once said that we all have to decide whether we
"will walk in the light of creative altruism or the
darkness of destructive selfishness. Life's most persistent and
nagging question, he said, is `what are you doing for
others?'" he would quote Mark 9:35, the scripture in which
Jesus of Nazareth tells James and John "...whosoever will
be great among you shall be your servant; and whosoever among
you will be the first shall be the servant of all." And
when Martin talked about the end of his mortal life in one of
his last sermons, on February 4, 1968 in the pulpit of Ebenezer
Baptist Church, even then he lifted up the value of service as
the hallmark of a full life. "I'd like somebody to mention
on that day Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to give his life
serving others," he said. "I want you to say on that
day, that I did try in my life...to love and serve humanity.
We call you to commemorate this Holiday by making your personal
commitment to serve humanity with the vibrant spirit of
unconditional love that was his greatest strength, and which
empowered all of the great victories of his leadership. And with
our hearts open to this spirit of unconditional love, we can
indeed achieve the Beloved Community of Martin Luther King,
Jr.’s dream.
May we who follow Martin now pledge to serve humanity, promote
his teachings and carry forward his legacy into the 21st Century
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