What’s the best way to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Jon Gordon January 16, 2012, 5:00 AM Jan 16, 2012

It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a time for honoring the civil rights leader who pushed for non-violent social change. Today’s Question: What’s the best way to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.?

About the blogger

Jon Gordon

jgordon@mpr.org • @jongordon • 1-651-290-1024

Jon Gordon was the director of digital news for MPR News.

Hiram

Lunch with the kids followed by movies. If they ever declare a national holiday in my honor, that’s what I would like people to do.

Tom

When you see a person who needs help, help them.

Alison

Find a way to do something to forward one of Dr. King’s dreams.

– Do something to work toward equal rights and opportunities for ALL people.

– Stand up for the rights of the poor to receive fair wages for their work. Let your elected leaders know that our minimum wage must be a livable wage.

– Take a stand against war and militarism. Given Dr. King’s philosophy of non-violence and opposition to the Vietnam War, what would he have had to say about our debate on whether our military should be able to fight two large scale wars at a time?

david

Call or right your legislators and demand they put a stop to the voting suppression laws a certain political party is trying to sneak through so they can steal another election.

Steve the Cynic

What do you mean, “the” best way? There are lots of roughly equally good ways. Anything tha opposes racial prejudice, economic injustice, militarism, etc., is a good way to honor his legacy, don’t you think?

Jessica E

How about finally admitting that poverty has something to do with graduation rates and racism and job inequality has something to do with poverty! The graduation rates for black children is THE SAME as it was when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr challenged us to do something about it! The graduation rates for black and hispanic children is still 57%. Let us, my generation (the Y’s), do something about it for many reasons, least of which, is the preservation of our representative democracy!!! In 2025 Hispanics and black children will make up the majority of our population. Who is going to run for office on an 8th grade education??? Who is going to understand how our government works? Who is going to be representedin D.C.? AND why should our Congress be made up of a majority white people in the future when the demographics cannot be denied?

There are some people who need to quit cheating people of the same benefits, assumptions and privileges (education/job opportunities/a just hiring process/healthcare) that got them where they are today!

GregX

Act on the understanding that each of us possesses inherent bias and that each of us needs to accept that and conciously act to be better than that inherent bias, every day. Acting in this manner improves society through general peace, commerce through friendship and interaction and each individual through the eventual reduction in stress over a historic friction.

Jim G

Be a teacher, in the broadest sense. Teach your children justice and equity. Value the learner and learning as the life blood of this nation. Be brave and live life fearlessly as you are confronted with the injustice and discrimination prevalent in this current American culture.

This is NOT lucy

Use your voice, (cough cough mpr)

http://americancensorship.org/
Bob MacNeal

I’d add a +1 to the comment posted by Jim G.

For the forward-thinkers among us who are committed to the progress of civilization, it is important to recall and reflect on what MLK said about change:

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. “
Kurt

End Affirmative Action. It is an insult and presumes that people perfectly able of taking care of themselves are not capable of doing so.
Regnar James

Robert Baden-Powell

Boy Scout Law

_______________________________

A Scout is Trustworthy.

A Scout tells the truth. He is honest, and he keeps his promises. People can depend on him.

A Scout is Loyal.

A Scout is true to his family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and nation.

A Scout is Helpful.

A Scout cares about other people. He willingly volunteers to help others without expecting payment or reward.

A Scout is Friendly.

A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He offers his friendship to people of all races and nations, and respects them even if their beliefs and customs are different from his own.

A Scout is Courteous.

A Scout is polite to everyone regardless of age or position. He knows that using good manners makes it easier for people to get along.

A Scout is Kind.

A Scout knows there is strength in being gentle. He treats others as he wants to be treated. Without good reason, he does not harm or kill any living thing.

A Scout is Obedient.

A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobeying them.

A Scout is Cheerful.

A Scout looks for the bright side of life. He cheerfully does tasks that come his way. He tries to make others happy.

A Scout is Thrifty.

A Scout works to pay his own way and to help others. He saves for the future. He protects and conserves natural resources. He carefully uses time and property.

A Scout is Brave.

A Scout can face danger although he is afraid. He has the courage to stand for what he thinks is right even if others laugh at him or threaten him.

A Scout is Clean.

A Scout keeps his body and mind fit and clean. He chooses the company of those who live by high standards. He helps keep his home and community clean.

A Scout is Reverent.

A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.

________________________________________
Steve the Cynic

For most practical purposes, Kurt, affirmative action is already ended. Unfortunately, it went away before all of the historic injustice was rectified. If one side in a game is caught cheating, it’s not enough to say, “Okay, no more cheating from now on, but you get to keep all the points you made before we caught you, and the other side will just have to catch up by their own effort.” White folks who complain that it’s not right for them to be “punished” for their parents’ sins have to realize that it’s not right to benefit from your parents’ sins either. (I’m white guy, btw.)
JasonB

Take a moment to learn a little more in depth about the civil rights movement and his part in it, rather than just feel satisfied that in general he was a courageous and good man.
Jeff Johnson

To honor Martin Luther King, I am offering a video lesson on my youtube teaching channel on the history of black rhetoric for my online Composition I students at Central Lakes College in Brainerd! Jeff Johnson
Kurt

@Steve

I guess the point I was trying to make is that, while I’m sure the whole Affirmative Action thing was hatched with the best of intentions, it has, in my view, actually impeeded the progress of African Americans as a whole.
Harris Mills

King understood that racial injustice was a primary cause of poverty and understood, as well, that the laws and social structures in place were contrary to the moral principles of our religions, and thus worked to free us from the status quo. Today, the greatest threat to the poor and indigenous peoples of the world is thought to be global warming. Could a charismatic leader with expertise environmental sciences arise, and with knowledge and moral standing, then, as King so often did, eloquently challenge religious institutions and worship groups to abandon the excesses of our lifestyles and entitlements, now known to collectively increase the frequency and severity of floods, droughts, starvation and disease. Could that leader be committed to the principles of non-violent resistance, able to lead public demonstrations, boycotts, and acts of civil disobedience wherever required, and, be willing to endure ridicule, hardship, abuse and incarceration, even death? All for the hopes & dreams of future generations? Thank you.
Steve the Cynic

Nonetheless, Kurt, we who are heirs of previous generations’ racial privilege have a moral responsibility to redress that legacy. If you think affirmative action is not a good way to do that, propose another one. It seems to me that higher education should have been the last area where affirmative action should be stopped, because it most directly addressed the un-level playing field, but it was just about the first where white folks cried “Reverse discrimination!”

Tangentially related…. An interesting detail I picked up listening today: African-Americans are disproportionately represented in government jobs. I wondered why that was, since I know racial preferences are forbidden in government hiring. “Aha!” I says to myself. “It’s because there’s still prejudice in hiring in the private sector, so they gravitate to where the opportunities are better.” So then I wonder, what does that say about the Republicans’ push to “shrink government” and the derogatory way they speak about “government workers”?

So, Kurt, I can’t prove it, but I have a strong hunch that the idea that affirmative action has done blacks more harm than good is motivated more by denial than by fact.
Jenzi

I taught the second session of my course on African American and women contributors to early 20th-century American popular song, and it felt like a great way to honor Dr. King! Especially because we listened to James Weldon Johnson and John R. Johnson’s beautiful, moving song, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” aka the African American national anthem. My whole rationale for creating and teaching this class in the first place is to make an attempt at musical and social justice: without African Americans, we really would have no “Great American Songbook” at all (or its close cousin, jazz). But back in the day, African American composers and performers endured the same horrible, egregious racism as their brothers and sisters did, and often didn’t get all the credit they deserved because of it. I don’t think it’s too late to change that!
blahblahblah

“Thank you.

Posted by Harris Mills | January 16, 2012 7:17 PM ”

…for what?…
Kurt

The trouble with that logic, Steve, is that, once you start down that path, there is no end. Do we still owe the Japaneese reparaations for interring them during WWll?, Does modern Germany still owe the Jewish people reparations? How about those Christians that were fed to the lions? Are those Romans going to default on their sovereign debt just to avoid a pay-out? But seriously, where would you propose it ends?

One cannot escape the fact also, that the Jewish people and the Japanese and Christians seem to have thrived in spite of attrocities perpetrated against them. I really believe that had they been condescended to with an affirmative action policy, that would not be the case.

As to the Government employment, I think there are a number of simple explanations for that. I would guess that the Government is also the leading employer of whites. It is the employer of last resort if you do not have a college degree or say, got a degree in 14th century poetry. Also many jobs in the private sector are discovered through word of mouth. This arrangement favors the status quo. There is nothing inherrently evil in this. I’m sure very few whites hear of opportunities in African American owned bussinesses.
Steve the Cynic

So, Kurt, are you saying that if we can’t do it perfectly and completely, we shouldn’t do it at all? If so, you left out the other great example to make your case: the dispossession of Native Americans. And your defamatory description of government employees shows you don’t know what you’re talking about. On the whole, government jobs require more education and better qualifications than the private sector. You also missed the point I was making. It’s not merely that government employs lots of African Americans, but that it employs more, percentage-wise, than the private sector does.

I don’t expect you to be convinced. It’s human nature for people with privilege to rationalize and make excuses for it, rather than admiting they have responsibilities for the well-being of those who don’t. It was ever thus, but that doesn’t mean it should be thus. I’m not a socialist. I don’t think the solution is to eliminate all privilege, because that’s unrealistic, but I do think that privilege entails responsibility.
Kurt

No Steve, I’m saying that its an exercise in futility. We have a fundamental diffrence in what it means to help someone. I’m more alligned with the “teach a man to fish” school. And I reject your categorization of “defamatory” as regards my description of public employees. I think it is spot on. Where does one become employed with a vanity degree? Rather than “requiring” more education and better qualifications than the public sector, I would submit that while the public sector employee may “have” more education than those in the private sector, that education is often moot to the task at hand. They would, in point of fact, have a difficult time finding employment in the private sector.
Steve the Cynic

Actually, I don’t think we do disagree about what it means to “help someone.” The “teach a person to fish” idea is exactly why affirmative action in education is appropriate, even if you think it’s not in hiring. And you must know a different group of government workers from the ones I’m acquainted with. Or is it that you don’t know any and are just parroting rhetoric from your favorite talking heads?
Kurt

As I recall, you played the “don’t know what you are talking about” card previously in regard to my background in science. As it happens, I know a thing or two about state government also, having spent some time in the belly of that beast as well. So,to answer your question, my views in this instance stem from observation of my surroundings which I trust emminently more than any talking head. And you?
Steve the Cynic

Who’s plaing cards, Kurt? You think this is a game?

My “in the belly of the beast” experience was with the DoD. Lots of institutional idiocy, but also lots of important work being done on behalf of the country, and the people were mostly honest, hard-working, well-qualified folks who would resent your demeaning characterization of government as “the employer of last resort if you do not have a college degree or say, got a degree in 14th century poetry.”

(And what do you have against 14th century poetry anyway? No, don’t answer that– too far off topic.)
Ann Steinke

By contributing to your community everyday in whatever way you are able. By giving more than you take, by asking what more you can do.

This, btw, works well in your personal life.