Martin Luther King....Dreams....Justice....

On January 15th we will celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday.  A Nobel Laureate, Civil rights leader, and an extraordinary human being. Gandhi was his inspirational leader along with great thinkers like Howard Thurman and Bayard Rustin. Very rarely in history one can find leaders like Gandhi, King or Mandela whose choice was to pursue non-violence means to fight for justice and freedom.

As an immigrant to the US in the early 80's I do not have any first hand knowledge of the severity of the segregation and the civil rights movement of the 60's and the 70's. Today, America can proudly say,"Yes our past has instances of slavery and segregation. But, we had the courage to admit and to abolish slavery. We had the courage to abolish segregation and racial discrimination. We are constantly learning and improving the democratic principles and freedom for all".

Any civil rights movement with a non-violence approach cannot succeed in a coercive and non-democratic political system where the state or a dictator has enough power to destroy the group who are vocal about injustice.  Luckily, the political system in the USA paved the way for Martin Luther King to go full steam in the southern states in pursuit of his dreams and quest for justice.  Many sacrificed their lives. Yet, he had the will power to continue the non-violent method amidst the pressure from people who believed in revolutionary methods.  He gave his life at the end but not in vain.  Today, in the southern states, one can walk into any restaurant or rest room not as black, white or brown but as an American.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of  annihilation.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963

We need more MLK's to spread peace and be change agents to break that chain of violence and terrorism anywhere in the World.
 

 
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