Martin Luther King’s legacy and spirit lives on
April 4 marked a sad and painful anniversary for the world — in particular for the African American community in America. It marks the day in 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.
Dr. King’s loss is still felt — but so is his legacy. And on this April 4, his spirit loomed large.
April 4 was also the date that saw Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson move closer to becoming the first African American woman to be seated on the Supreme Court. On that day especially, I really felt Dr. King’s spirit around Judge Jackson. I would imagine that Dr. King is thinking back to when Justice Thurgood Marshall served on the court and the progress made. No doubt Dr. King would celebrate the history soon to be made by Judge Jackson.
I think he might be a bit discouraged that Judge Jackson’s confirmation isn’t crossing political party lines as President Biden had hoped. All his life, Dr. King fought for consensus, but he taught us that we may not always reach that goal. I do applaud Republican Sens. Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins for their support in recognizing Judge Jackson’s excellence.
I believe Dr. King is rejoicing in the passage of Emmett Till Anti Lynching Act, making lynching a federal hate crime. The 14-year-old Till was lynched in 1955, but the heinous practice preceded him. Hundreds of antilynching bills had languished in Congress for over 100 years while thousands of African Americans were brutalized and hung for existing while Black.
I would think that Dr. King would celebrate with the activists who fought against the barbaric acts without the might of the law behind then. He would certainly congratulate journalist Ida B. Wells and her onewoman crusade to keep the spotlight on the atrocities until she made the nation take notice.
Dr. King would “in no way be discouraged” by the attempts to water down the voting rights act that we are experiencing now. He and the late U.S. Representative John Lewis and so many others worked for, and some gave their lives for, the right to vote. He knows we have “come too far to turn back now.” After all, he reminded us that faith can move mountains — even though he did not make it to the mountaintop.
Dr. King would certainly be dismayed about today’s racial climate and the unbridled hate.
The unprecedented attacks on the Jewish community who were our most loyal partners in the civil rights movement would stun him, as would the increasing numbers of hate crimes against Asian Americans. He would urge us to be guided by his principal that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Dr. King would no doubt be humbled that people the world over still remember his words, and many strive to live by them.
He would rejoice that here in Boston — which he called his second home, and where he met the love of his life and partner in the struggle, Coretta Scott — King Boston is about to celebrate the official groundbreaking of “The Embrace” memorial dedicated to Martin and Coretta Scott King on the Boston Common April 27. “The Embrace” memorial honors their words and actions and will inspire future generations to come.