We celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day this week. MLK Day is celebrated the third Monday of the year since 1986. In 1983 Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law declaring this day a national holiday.
Growing up in school I remember MLK Day as a special occasion. Oftentimes we would spend history class discussing the history of MLK Jr. and the significance of his activism. I specifically remember a movie they showed us in elementary school. The film depicted a world in which King was never shot and killed. In the film a kid goes back in time to stop the would-be assassin and prevent the tragedy.
In doing so, in accomplishing his task, he returns home to realize life isn’t the same. He doesn’t have his nice stereo or computer and it was as if racism continued to grow instead of decline. Looking back at history makes me wonder how things would have happened if events played out differently.
Some people, quite a lot I presume, come to the conclusion that civil rights acts of the mid 1960s would never have happened with John F. Kennedy in office. They argue his death and the tenacity of Lyndon Johnson were what prompted civil rights reform. I don’t know if either side is correct in there arguments. I tend to believe that everything happens and happened for a reason. Good or bad, what happened historically was supposed to happen.
If it weren’t for a wobbly chair, Franklin D. Roosevelt would never have survived his first term in office. The course of history would most certainly have been significantly different without his impact. That said, is it reasonable to believe that Kennedy and King’s death had something in common? Would their legacies have been as significant without their martyrdom?
I am no historian, but would William McKinley have had the same impact as Teddy Roosevelt in his presidency if he hadn’t been killed? In regards to history it can be easy to look back and think that things worked out the way they were supposed to.
Back to MLK. King was a prominent civil rights leader who preached non-violent resistance. In August of 1963 King lead the famed March on Washington. Roughly a quarter-million participants led the protest that many credit as the significant action leading to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. King was named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1964 and was the youngest person ever to receive a Nobel Prize in 1965. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis.
I encourage anyone intrigued by King to look into the speeches and writing he did throughout his life. One of my favorite quotes regarding the progress toward civil rights by King is this, “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” King spoke greatly about being fooled by the idea of slow progress. Many argued that revolutionary change would backfire and set the movement back. King didn’t believe this to be true and warned against it.
It’s hard to imagine a world where King hadn’t been assassinated. Would it be like the movie? Would there have been no change? His impact is still felt today and I have little doubt that if he were still alive he would be fighting for reform. King would have turned 90 years old this year.
Thought for the week: I heard somewhere something that sounded like good advice. “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”