Monday, January 18, 2010

Dr. King - A True Radical

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

The word "radical" means root.  Dr. King was not satisfied with a struggle just to bring legislation about to change the status of African Americans, but his dream went much deeper, to the root of the problem, our hearts.  He hoped to transform hate to love.  In his memory, let's dedicate ourselves to this radical vision, first eliminating the violence within our own hearts, and then working to eradicate it in our world. 


Be radical - be nonviolent.

1 comment:

Tom H. Hastings said...

Good post--as Dr. King thought about all the problems he went the next step and began to organize for economic justice, which meant he could use his greatest gifts of intercultural organizing. His last initiatives were so inclusive and such a foundation for a new consensus that he was made a much more serious target. No one but him had that ability to meet with a backwoods Mississippi Delta congregation one evening and a northern university board of trustees the next day for lunch and be equally effective with each. He was bringing together African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans and the poor whites who were supposed to be his enemy. The closer he came to the root you describe so well, the more of a threat he became...