Area leaders consider how King would react to state of America
Martin Luther King Jr. preached nonviolence and racial harmony amid the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
His leadership helped America transition from an era of segregation and help the country take a hard look at how to resolve conflict. But nearly 53 years after he was fatally shot in Memphis, the United States is divided over one of its long-standing foundations — democracy — and still reckoning race relations after a summer of peaceful and violent protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The Rev. Kerry Price, pastor at Pine Bluff’s Breath of Life Church, said he was serving in Vietnam when King was assassinated April 4, 1968. Two months later, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was killed. The
Tet Offensive occurred that year and escalated tensions in the Vietnam War, beginning a tumultuous year in American history.
“We would ask ourselves what’s going on back there in the world; that’s what we used to call the United States, the world,” Price said. “They’re killing our leaders. We thought we might be better off over here.”
More than five decades later, America is enduring more unrest on the home front amid another battle — the fight against covid-19. Some have argued against the use of masks, which health experts say are effective against the spread of coronavirus.
Already, 2021 has gotten off to bad start socially in the U.S. with supporters of President Donald Trump breaching security at the Capitol. Five individuals, including a Capitol police officer, died in the riot.
Today marks the 36th year Martin Luther King Day is commemorated as a federal holiday.
Asked how would King respond, Price said: “I think he would be very sad about it. He
preached nonviolence, and what we see now is a lot of violence going on. He marched and stood up for what was right, and I think he would wonder why he did any of it. Today, people are standing up for their individuality, not for what is right.”
The Rev. Jesse Turner, executive director of Pine Bluff Interested Citizens for Voter Registration, said King would remind everyone of his teachings about unity.
“I believe he would repeat these words: ‘We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.’ He would quickly see people who have turned from being one nation under God to a nation where many are asking, is there liberty and justice for all? King would see critical times ahead, times which demand de-escalation of racial tension, and people who refuse to believe we are interdependent, that we all need each other.”
King’s six principles of nonviolence are needed today as many have walked away from them, Turner said. The principles are:
■ “Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.”
■ “Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.”
■ “Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people.”
■ “Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform.”
■ “Nonviolence chooses love, not hate.”
■ “Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.”
“Finally, he would ask this question: ‘Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?’ We don’t need any more members in the organizations today. We need soldiers to be boots on the ground,” Turner said.
King led the way for pointing people to Jesus Christ, said Stephen Harrison, senior pastor of Family Church in White Hall.
“Dr. King was a believer, Christian and a pastor,” Harrison said. “A lot of times, he would speak up, especially in his day, about the injustices, racism and discrimination, but I think he led the way with that by being Christ-centered.”
Harrison referred to Acts 17:26, which reads in the New International Version: “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.”
“I think Dr. King would say, whether white or black or any skin tone in between, comes from God who created man in his image,” Harrison said, also referring to Genesis 1:27. “That was his message, right? It was more than just skin color. It was to the heart, and he would want to point people to Christ, who changes hearts. He changed worldviews. He changes the way I see you and the way you see me. He changes us to see people like he sees people. That was a lot of his speeches — right? — from Birmingham to ‘I Have a Dream.’
“… I think he would still say Jesus is the answer to the issues we’ve seen in 2020 that have carried over to this year. What he preached was definitely [relevant] then but it’s as relevant today.”
PEACE AND EQUALITY
King gave the keynote address for Arkansas AM&N College’s graduation ceremony in 1958 and then went to the commencement at Little Rock Central High School, where Ernest Green became the first black graduate of the school. King gave Green a $15 check, according to a January 2018 article in The Commercial.
Arkansas AM&N is now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and its present chancellor says it’s only fitting to celebrate King’s birthday and reflect on his legacy at this point in American history.
“Though we are only days after an insurrection by a violent mob at the U.S. Capitol and months after nationwide protests of police killings of unarmed Black Americans like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, all Americans should use this year’s birthday observance to reflect on Dr. King’s message of peace,” Dr. Laurence B. Alexander said. “As the visionary, strategic, inspirational pastor and activist leader who advocated for justice and racial equality through nonviolence during the civil rights movement, Dr. King’s legacy stands boldly as an enduring symbol of peace.
“It presents us another opportunity to reflect on the words of Dr. King: ‘True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.’
“No one could know for certain how Dr. King would address the current state of affairs, but I believe he would be leading us with an inspirational message of healing while strongly advocating for social and economic justice and equality.”
Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington said she imagines King would be proud of “certain advancements” but also heartbroken and that he would remain adamant for greater progress.
“On one hand, decades of hard work have yielded great strides in the march for equality,” Washington said. “Yet the work is not finished. Black Americans are still burdened with racism and incredible injustices in education, housing, the labor force, and the criminal justice system. The protests we witnessed last summer, after the murder of George Floyd, was as much a reaction to his death as to these ongoing injustices.”
The events of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol would leave King disturbed, Washington added.
“He anchored himself on the foundations of freedom, equality and democracy,” she said. “The insurgents assaulted these values and defiled the beating heart of our democracy. Now, as we confront these challenges, Dr. King would undoubtedly call upon Americans to unite, defend its greatest principles, and finish the work of ensuring equality for all.”
THE LAST DAYS?
Price said he thought the world was in “the last hours of the last days,” and likened the society’s troubled status to a woman having a baby. The pain that is evident, he said, is a precursor to a great occurrence, and in the case of where society is today, a great downfall.
“Everyone is for themselves,” Price said. “You don’t take over the government. You don’t break into the Capitol. I think Dr. King would be terrified and ask what did we do in the 1950s and ’60s. What did it accomplish? He would probably shed tears, and not just him but those around him were mostly pastors.”
King would want people to do as he did, Price said.
“He was looking for equality and fighting for all people,” Price said. “Not just Democrats or Republicans, like it is now.”
Harrison suggests King would address a spiritual warfare where a person who commits wrongdoing may have a belief system that’s rooted in evil, yet the person himself is not the enemy. The right weapons to use in the spiritual warfare, Harrison said, include prayer and nonviolence.
Harrison reflected on an account in the New Testament where Malchus, a servant of the high priest, played a role in the arrest of Jesus and Peter cut Malchus’ right ear off.
“[Peter] was upset [Malchus] was taking Jesus to the garden, and Jesus said, ‘That’s enough of that,’ and he put the dude’s ear back on,” Harrison said. “Jesus knew that man wasn’t his enemy. He knew that man could be saved by what he was about to do on the cross, and Jesus willingly went and laid down his life. Dr. King did that. He didn’t know that day it was going to happen, but he willingly laid down his life for what was right.”