M a r t in L u t h e r K in g J r .
2 0 0 3 s p e c ia l e J i/io n .
Page B4
Martin Luther King Jr.
Embraced World Harmony
His words of wisdom
still ring true today
G andhi’s peaceful and non-violent approaches to
conflict resolution.
King believed that in some marvelous way, God
worked wonders through Gandhi. He believed Gandhi
offered a method by which Christ’s doctrine of Chris
tian love could be applied to the problems of the
people struggling to achieve justice and freedom.
After his return from India, King began letting his
new ideals ring forth. He felt if he could even bring a
single person to embrace peace and unity, his mis
sion was a success:
D on't ever let someone pull you down so fa r as to
hate them.
Hate begets hate, violence begets violence, and
toughness begets a greater toughness. We m ust meet
the forces o f hale with the pow er o f love, we must
meet physical force with soul force.
B y R on W eber
T he P ori land O bserver
Much of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy
on life has been thoroughly studied by people from
all walks o f life — the rich or poor; the high school
dropout or the highly educated; black people and
non-black people.
One common thread is King’s refusal to follow the
paths of black leaders such as Malcolm X or Marcus
Garvey, who believed in violence and independent
black societies. On the contrary. King felt regardless
of race, creed or color, we should all join together in
harmonious interaction. As we look back at his life
and death, many of his often
repeated thoughts are still here
in our minds, ever-reminding
us that his philosophies are
now more than ever corner
stones to the arch through
which we can all walk to free
dom.
On Jan. 15, 2003, Martin
Luther King would have been
74 years old.
Commenting on cultural di
versity at the M ontgom ery
Airport in the mid 1960's King
said;
As / stood with them and
saw white and Negro, nuns
and priests, ministers and rabbis, labor organizers,
lawyers, doctors, housemaids and shop workers
brimming with vitality and enjoying a rare com
radeship, I knew I was seeing a microcosm o f the
mankind o f the future in this moment o f luminous
and genuine brotherhood.
Dr. King truly believed that all mankind were
brother and sister. A hope that he took to the South
was that o f a joint faith between those of all races:
With this faith we will be able to transform the
jangling discords o f our nation into a beautiful
symphony o f brotherhood. With this faith we will he
able to work together, to pray together, to struggle
together, to stand up fo r our freedom together,
knowing that we will be free one day.
A devout Christian and minister, Dr. King visited
India in the late 1950s for the purpose of furthering
his knowledge of Mahatma Gandhi. The “Negro
Gandhian” as he was called when he left to come
home to the United States was deeply touched by
January IS, 20 0 *
3GIE GUYTON HONC
MARTIN LUTHER
KING JR'S BIRTHDAY
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“When evil men shout ugly words
We see men us Jews or Gentiles, Catholics or
Protestants, Chinese or American, Negroes orwhites.
W efail to think o f them asfellow human beings made
from the same basic stu ff as we, molded in the same
divine image.
Dr. King noticed how broad diversity could be,
touching us in all avenues of our lives:
When we arise in the morning, we go into the
bathroom where we reach fo r a sponge, which is
provided fo r us by a European. Then at the table we
drink coffee, which is provided fo r us by a South
American, or tea by a Chinese, or cocoa by a West
African. Before we leave fo r jo b we are already
beholden to more than h a lf o f the world.
As the Civil Rights Movement continued on, Dr.
Martin Luther King would lead those who believed
in him into long and tumultuous upward battle. But
his stubborn refusal to payback those who hurt his
continued
of h atred, good m en m ust com m it
themselves to the glories of love. Where
evil men would seek to perpetuate an
unjust statu s quo, good m en m ust
seek to bring into being a real order
of justice.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
h
Gregory P. Oliveros
Oliveros & O ’Brien
Attorney At Law
2149 NE Broadway
Portland, OR 9 7 2 3 2 , ^ ^ ^ «
k
503-282-7285
on page B6
Keep the Dream alive.
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