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Our Hero
by Harris Levon McRae
tory o f the U nited States. In Sep
tem ber, 1954, D r. M a rtin L u th er
King Jr. and M rs. C o retta Scott
King took up residence in M o n t
gomery, Alabama, where the young
D r. King assumed the pastorate o f
the Dexter Avenue Baptist church.
About a year later in December o f
1955, a tired Black w om an, Rosa
Parks, refused to get out o f her seat
when the bus d river asked her to
move to the back o f the bus. She
was arrested and ja ile d by the
police.
Montgomery Blacks numbering
in the thousands refused to ride on
the Jim Crow buses. Under the lead
ership o f D r. King, as head o f the
Montgomery Improvement Associa
tio n , they staged a bus boycott
which lasted more than a year, re
sulting in victory when the Supreme
Court ruled that the kind o f racial
discrim in atio n practiced on the
buses was illegal.
Young D r. M a rtin Luther King
Jr. was world famous.
“ E veryb o d y’ s searching fo r a
hero; people need someone to look
up to; I never found anyone to ful
fill my needs; a lonely place to be so
I learned to depend on m e .” As
George Benson sang those lyrics I
quietly uttered “ I heard th a t,” to
myself. Then I stopped to thin k
about the word "hero” and the stuff
heroes are made o f, and it is no
wonder they are so hard to find.
A hero is a man o f distinguished
valor and enterprise in danger, a
central person in any remarkable ac
tion or event taking on tremendous
odds. Some folks picture John
W ayne w ith blazing six guns
winning the girl and riding o ff into
the sunset or super cops like " D irty
Harry” as hero material. To me the
prototype o f heroes is the man who
fought for tru th , justice and the
American way— D r. M artin Luther
King, Jr.
The main thing that I adm ired
about D r. King is th a t, although
For a decade M artin Luther King
deeply committed to the struggle o f
Jr. was a hero in every sense o f the
Black Americans against discrimin
word. Among his many accomplish
ation and racial prejudice, he had a
ments was his designation by Time
love and concern fo r all kinds o f
magazine as "M a n o f the Year” for
people. He drew no distinction be
1963 and being awarded the Nobel
tween the Blacks and the whites, the
Peace Prize in 1964— the youngest
haves and have-nots.
person ever to receive the award.
At the root o f his civil rights fight
I was a twelve-year-old boy stand
was a tremendous faith in the basic
ing in my mother’ s kitchen when I
goodness o f man and the great
heard o f Dr. King’s assassination on
potential o f American democracy.
A p ril 4 th , 1968. I felt an over-
He felt that the Black man needed
whelming feeling o f great loss.
the white man to free him from his
The crime dominated the media,
fears and that the white man needed
specials on T . V . , his speeches on
the Black man to free him from his
many o f the radio stations, fro n t
guilt. Dr. King said, “ A doctrine o f
page stories several days in a row in
Black supremacy is as evil as a doc
the newspapers. Detail after detail.
trine o f white supremacy.”
He was ambushed— shot with a
Another thing that I greatly ad
high-powered rifle as he stood on
mired about M artin Luther King Jr.
the balcony o f the Lorraine Hotel in
was the fact that though very elo
Memphis, Tennessee. He was in the
quent, he never relied solely on
midst o f plans for a "P o o r Peoples
words. He was a man o f action. He
March On Washington.”
once said, “ For years now I have
So there I was, robbed o f a hero,
heard the word ‘w ait.’ It rings in the
but by no means could anyone steal
ta r o f every Negro with a piercing
his memory. I will always remember
fa m ilia rity . The ‘ w a it’ has almost
his love for all hum anity, and his
always meant ‘ never.’ It has been a
courageous assaults on racial preju
tranquilizing thalidomide, relieving
dice. I will always remember his de
the em otional stress for the m o
term ination to succeed— whatever
ment, only to give b irth to an ill-
the cost.
formed infant o f frustration.
The next time you think o f heroes
“ We have waited for more than
and sunsets remember these words
340 years for our constitutional and
o f D r. James Bevel; “ D r. King
God-giwn rights.”
walked w ith God. H e was tire d .
D r. King was thrust into leader God took him, and they walked o ff
ship at a crucial moment in the his
into the Western sunset.1
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Page 18 Section II Portland Observer, January 21, 1982
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