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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2016)
Page 12 The Skanner January 13, 2016 Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Transformative Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 2016 A s we prepare to celebrate the 87th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as part the offi- cial federal holiday cel- ebrations, I believe it is very important to focus Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. NNPA President and CEO on how Dr King’s legacy today is still relevant and trans- formative for all people who cry out for freedom, jus- tice, equality and empowerment. Dr. King’s vision went beyond changing laws and winning victories against the forces of in- justice and repression. Social change for Dr. King was not an abstrac- tion or just a dream or an unreachable goal, but it was a realistic, achiev- able and tangible out- come of the struggle for freedom and equality: “The Beloved Communi- ty.” In his own words, King emphasized, “The non- violent resister must of- ten express his protest through noncooperation or boycotts, but nonco- operation and boycotts are not ends themselves; “ But today we must also assert in King’s trans- formative tradition that “All Black Lives Matter!” In other words, yes we have to stand up effec- tively against police brutality and prosecuto- rial misconduct. Yes, we urgently have to reform the criminal justice sys- tem in its totality. Yet, we must also stand up effec- tively with our activism to stop the self-destruc- tive violence and mur- ders that too many of us perpetrate on each other in our own families and communities. Reconciliation for Dr. King was not reconcil- ing or compromising to roots power to promote social change. We could use that kind of grass- roots power today to get a massive voter turnout. Dr. King was in com- plete solidarity with the poor and marginalized, but yet determined to end poverty and injus- tice wherever those evils were manifested. Thus, we should also revisit Dr. King’s eco- nomic justice demands. It is my opinion that if Dr. King were alive today he would be encouraging “principled youth en- trepreneurial develop- ment.” Participating in the U.S. economy as busi- ness owners that help to Martin Luther King, Jr. was in complete solidarity with the poor and marginalized, but yet determined to end poverty and injus- tice wherever those evils were manifested they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent. The end is redemption and reconciliation. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the be- loved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.” Today, in the bold tra- dition of Martin Luther King, Jr., we salute the Black Lives Matter move- ment. It is being led by young, gifted, talented and courageous activists, who are using nonvio- lent civil disobedience anew to challenge racial injustice and the wanton police violence and mur- ders that have become too frequent against Black Americans and others. leave injustice or racial bigotry in place. Howev- er reconciliation was the active and involved pro- cess that resulted in spe- cific social transforma- tion that inured benefits to all people. The success of the Civil Rights Move- ment under Dr. King’s leadership not only ben- efited Black America, but also the success of this movement for change provided benefits to all people. In my younger years, I personally worked with Dr. King, Golden Frinks and Milton Fitch in the North Carolina SCLC. I witnessed firsthand how Dr. King transformed and inspired the con- sciousness of people to believe and exert a grass- financially sustain our communities should be a priority. In his last public speech on April 3, 1968 on the night before his tragic as- sassination in Memphis, Tennessee, without fear Dr King asserted, “The nation is sick; trouble is in the land, confusion all around…But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century. Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherev- er they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee, the cry is always the same: ‘We want to be free.’” We want to be free. We want an end to racial in- justice and all manifes- tations of inequity and inequality. But we realize from the living legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. that we all should remain vigilant and active. Let’s keep Dr. King’s transformative legacy alive and vibrant with re- newed energy and sup- port. Dr. Benjamin F. Cha- vis, Jr. is the President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and can be reached for nation- al advertisement sales and partnership propos- als at: dr.bchavis@nnpa. org; and for lectures and other professional consul- tations at: http://drben- jaminfchavisjr.wix.com/ drbfc.
