Pride in the Name of Love

Here in the United States, on third Monday of January, we celebrate the birthday of an inspirational man of peace, a courageous activist who forced change in a corrupt system, a preacher, an alleged conspirator against the US government, an eloquent orator for justice and brotherhood, and a tragic martyr for truth and understanding. In focusing on the man, it's easy to forget his message. The movement he began became the impetus for bringing the life of the disenfranchised to the average heart and mind from the streets of the south all the way to the congressional lobbies, and from there, all around the world.

Through him we came to understand that bigotry was the only thing keeping our corrupt bureaucracy from untangling and realigning itself to stay in keeping with our sentiments. We learned that fear, hatred, ignorance, and corruption should have no legislative excuse. The movement forced the change, but it was the man who taught us how to live within that change--that our moral obligation to one another in the moment trumps our obligation to tradition or regime.

As it is for race, gender, and creed, so should it also be for age, children not excluded. 

On a personal note, King was one of the main inspirations for me as a young teen struggling to untangle his own desires. He gave me the clarity for a brief moment in my temporary angst to see a different path for myself, out from the public school haze that I'd been cast under. Suddenly everything they'd been neglecting to tell me in it started to ring in clear through King's speeches, and it was at that moment, as never before, that I decided I wanted to be a force of good in the world too.

And that's why we celebrate this man. He could delliniate what is good and what is wrong so profoundly that it became impossible to misunderstand the work of a selfless, loving soul, and the passionate self-righteous excuse making of a blind demagogue. And that is why we should celebrate him, because he can still teach us the difference.

In taking a man's life, a bullet attempts to also kill his conviction, but only succeeds when he's not in possession of the truth. As assuredly as the truth will bring out the bullets on the man, it will also bring new life to his message in his death. What is evil, can not win.

"I was in close confrontation with the devils. I could see them face to face. I could see them feed upon their brother's face as the fowls of the air feed upon the dead meat of the earth. I can see everything that is [deadly] upon creation...arranged to assassinate those who speak the truth."

 - Peter Tosh