Thoughts from January
A few weeks ago in mid-January the United States celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We celebrated the birth of a man who embodied the idea of nonviolent resistance, the idea of working toward achieving equality, freedom, and civil rights for all African Americans through peaceful means and moral steadfastness. He lead thousands of African Americans both physically, mentally, and emotionally through one of those most hostile and dangerous times for African Americans to be citizens in this country, and he did so without using tools of revenge, murder, and violence, but rather through bus boycotts, marches, the Freedom Rides, and school and restaurant sit-ins. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day we celebrate a man who possessed such high moral integrity, determination, leadership, and courage that he and the people he touched faced their enemies every single day, weaponless yet ultimately more powerful. Anyone can wield a gun and feel powerful. But how many among us could stare that gun down the barrel, holding no weapons ourselves and continue to persevere in fighting for civil and human rights, all the while with that gun still aimed at our backs?
Around the same time that Americans were commemorating Martin Luther King, people on the other half of the world in the Middle East and North Africa were celebrating the one-year anniversary of the start of the Arab Spring and remembering all the events, both good and bad, that transpired throughout the past year. The fate of oppressive dictators and corrupt regimes would finally rest in the hands of the thousands of protestors who showed up to the various public squares demanding freedom and rights in their own countries; however, the protestors would soon come to find that this would come at a heavy and tragic price.
Day after day the media seemed to be exposing increasingly more heinous accounts of police brutality and government thugs. Police were shown torturing and beating civilian protestors, both men and women, until they were bloodied, lying unconscious in the street, or dead. And yet people continued to show up to demonstrations. If anything, it kept their demonstrations alive, angry, and passionate, laced with undertones of redemption for those who had fallen.
Taking all of this into mind as I reflected on the goings-on in the world in the first month of 2012, I asked myself, What would Martin Luther King say about the protests of the Arab Spring? Really, what would Martin Luther King say about any of the protests that characterized 2011 and the beginning of 2012? From the Arab Spring to Moscow, from Greece to Occupy Wall Street, demonstrations were going on all over the world. The feeling was contagious. It was empowering. It was liberating. And those who participated and continue to participate in it peacefully are stronger individuals for it. TIME Magazine did, after all, name ‘The Protestor’ the Person of the Year. And I believe Dr. King would be immensely proud of that. For ‘The Protestor’ is one who speaks out for human rights, freedom, and social justice in the name of peace and solidarity; one who chooses to use their voice, morality, and steadfastness as weapons instead of picking up a gun or machete or Molotov cocktail; and finally, the ‘The Protestor’ is one who does this despite knowing the other side is equipped with an unlimited supply of rubber bullets, tear gas, and clubs.
I believe Dr. King would have been saddened by the cruelty and brutality that human beings have shown other human beings, but this would be nothing new to Dr. King. And as the man who said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” I am almost sure he would encourage protestors to persevere, rely on each other for strength, and move forward into the future with peace.
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