As we honor Martin Luther King Jr. today and celebrate the ideas he embraced and preached, it’s appropriate to contemplate his civil rights roots.
In 1955, King was a 26-year-old Baptist pastor working in Montgomery, Ala. On Dec. 1 of that year, a 40-something seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus on her way home. Her action later earned her the title, “The mother of the civil rights movement.”
Her actions, and resulting bus boycott, forever changed the life of Dr. King. He was chosen to lead the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization created to lead the fight for civil rights.
The Montgomery bus boycott lasted 381 days. It took a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to outlaw segregation on buses, which finally led to the end the boycott. Violence ensued. King and others were shot at, arrested, abused, their houses bombed.
He emerged from this extreme violence to take the leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization influenced by Christianity as well as Gandhi. The fact that non-violence was at the heart of the message in the face of such hatred continues to inspire all those who believe discrimination can be eliminated by reaching hearts and minds.
Between 1957 and 1968, King traveled more than 6 million miles and delivered more than 2,500 speeches. He was arrested some 20 times. At 35, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He turned the prize money over to the civil rights movement. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Parks died in October at age 92. In her obituary, The New York Times reported that Parks expressed fear that since the birthday of King became a national holiday, his image was being watered down and he was being depicted as merely a “dreamer.”
“As I remember him, he was more than a dreamer,” Parks said. “He was an activist who believed in acting as well as speaking out against oppression.”
Amen. His legacy of action lives today in individuals of all colors, and in groups such as the Communities of Color Coalition of Snohomish County, a grassroots organization working toward creating a bias- and racism-free society. The group is working with the Everett Mayor’s Advisory on Diversity to address issues identified by both groups.
They have a dream – and they are taking action. Let us support these civil rights actions as we honor the man who led us to this moment.
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