A Tribute to Dr Martin Luther King Junior

by Dr. Abdul Cader Asmal

May the peace and blessings of Almighty God be upon you.

That Dr King has been identified almost exclusively for his struggle for civil rights is appropriate. But his life encompassed so much more. So while his legacy as an indomitable civil rights leader will be the pre-eminent focus of his accomplishments, his other aspirations and achievements should not be overlooked, and these attributes can best be described in his own words.

He was a man of extraordinary courage especially when it came to taking on the status quo. He said and I quote,

“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ’ Is it politic?’ Vanity asks the question, ’ Is it popular?’ But, conscience asks the question, ’ Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right”.

” The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that of the good people.”

He was the quintessential peacemaker and advocate of non-violence. He said and I quote,

” I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken.”

As a citizen of the world, he said and I quote,

” An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity”.

“This call for a world-wide fellowship that lift neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted concept has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man.”

“This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by the allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation’s self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers”.

“I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.”

He truly understood the importance of renewing our spirituality. He said and I quote,

” When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social upliftment is approaching spiritual death.”

As a visionary, he shared his prophetic views with some of the greatest presidents of this country. John F Kennedy noted,

“if a free country cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” And Abraham Lincoln who observed, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Dwight Eisenhower,

“How far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without?”

In this context we must solemnly pose the question that with the Patriot Act and the National Defence Authorisation Act in place today would Dr King have been free in this age to make the speeches that he delivered nearly fifty years ago? The answer may be found in Benjamin Franklin’s warning,

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

With that background of his ideals, I have been asked to view his legacy from two perspectives - that of the minority Muslim elements in our community, and the aspects of Dr King’s legacy that we still have to fulfill.

With respect to the first, I emigrated from South Africa to escape the oppression of Apartheid. As my first and last stop since immigrating to the US more than 30 years ago I can speak with little fear of contradiction that Needham was and is a haven for a stranger. 

It was however ironic that while subjugated as a second class citizen in SA because of my color, my religion was never questioned. In contrast, on arrival to the US I noted with despair and despondency how terribly misunderstood and misrepresented my religion was.

After 9/11 Islam-bashing has become an almost social norm, and Islamophobia, once confined to xenophobes and bigots is now unashamedly exploited even by presidential wannabes who use anti-Muslim fear-baiting to garner votes. Noam Chomsky talks about the skilful manipulation of fear that was employed by the Nazis.

“The ‘ordinary folk’ were driven to fear a ‘Jewish-Bolshevik’ conspiracy to take over the world, placing the very survival of the German people at risk”.

Not dissimilar sentiments are expressed by both Rick Santorum, who is quoted as stating, “In our war against ‘radical’ Islam we must educate, engage, evangelize and eradicate Muslims”; and by Newt Gingrich who projects Islamic Shariah as ‘the pre-eminent totalitarian threat of our time’. We need to remind ourselves of what Caesar is purported to have stated ,

“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.  And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so.  How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar”.

The silence of the media in challenging hate-filled anti-Islamic rhetoric is reminiscent of Dr King’s statement that ‘our lives begin to end when we become silent over things that matter.’ 

Just as there is no radical Judaism or radical Christianity, there is no radical Islam . There are radical, fanatic and extremist Muslims as there are such Jews and Christians. No religion can be maligned for its misguided or heretic adherents.

A more sober view is presented by the Center for American Progress, “Treating Muslim American citizens as a part of the problem rather than the solution is not only offensive to American core values, it is utterly ineffective in combating terrorism”.

In our efforts to combat the Muslim extremists, whether here or abroad we as a Muslim community need all the help we can get from our fellow Americans to root out the heresy that has been injected into our religion. Clearly as Muslims we have the greatest vested interest in eradicating this scourge with which Islam has become linked. Not only are we equal opportunity victims at the hands of terrorists, but we need to delink this contemptible connection, that concocts an ‘Islamic bogeyman’, to perpetuate an endless so-called ‘war on terror’.

It goes without saying that there is nothing irreconcilable between the values of Islam and that of our Constitution, and between being a practising Muslim and a loyal American.

At the vanguard of those providing the Muslim community a forum to repudiate the hate-mongering of the Islamophobes, and to strengthen our hands in eradicating the malevolent preachings and practices of the Muslim extremists have been Interfaith Associations and Human Rights Committees. For this we are grateful.

Finally, what would Dr King feel about our society today?

From his resting place in Heaven would Dr King would see a welcoming community; a community that strangers can quickly call home; a place where homelessness and hunger are within everyone’s radar; a place where the sick, the elderly and down-trodden are taken care of; a place where there are no major problems with gangs, mindless violence, drug-trafficking and arson.

The vision, vigilance and proaction of a range of organisations including the civic administration and the educational authorities, the clergy associations and business enterprises, the police and fire departments, the hospital and the Community Councils, and the Human Rights and the Action Committees need to remain vigilant to ensure that prejudice is stopped at the door; that pluralism flourishes; that diversity is seen not as a threat or an act of political expediency but as a reflection of God’s master plan where the dignity of all human beings is treasured. 

We will never achieve Utopia, and with the important proviso that there can never be room for complacency, or the abandonment of critical self-analysis, we can achieve a society with a zero tolerance for racism and bigotry, an uncompromising community outreach, and a climate of goodwill, concern and respect for all. I am sure this accomplishment will bring a smile of approval on the face of Dr King in his place of Eternal Rest, and he would be able to shrug off the burdens of his responsibility with a heartfelt sigh of relief, ‘free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we are free at last’.  There can be no finer tribute to his legacy than the words of Shakespeare,  “His life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand up to say to all the world, ‘This was a man.’”