When most Americans think of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. his “I Have A Dream” speech about racial equality is the first thing that comes to mind. But considering the state of violent chaos currently taking place in America, it’s not the racial equality King that America needs now. What America needs now more than ever is the fundamental King!!!
Dr. King said before he would define himself as a civil rights leader or a political leader he would define himself as a theologian of the Christian faith, in other words, he defined himself first and foremost as simply a Baptist preacher. Fundamental to Dr. King’s personal Christian faith was strict adherence to the concept of agape love, it endowed Dr. King with a strong spiritual connection to all human beings, regardless of what faith they believed, regardless of their not having religious faith, regardless of their race or economic status, regardless of their nationality, and regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.
The fundamental King viewed all human beings as children of God, therefore he considered all human beings as his spiritual brothers and sisters that he was responsible to and responsible for. The fundamental King fueled Dr. King’s uncompromising commitment to practicing nonviolent conflict resolution in all facets of human life. He discovered that it’s much harder to be physically, verbally, emotionally, or spiritually violent with someone you feel a connection to or empathy for. As Dr. King said in a 1957 speech:
“At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love, when we rise to love on the agape level, we love men not because we like them, not because their attitudes and ways appeal to us, but we love them because God loves them. Here we rise to the position of loving the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does”.
Dr. King knew that differences of opinion, religious beliefs, political affiliations, economic status, and moral values will cause inevitable but acceptable conflict among human beings. The fundamental King knew that conflicts among human beings could be healthy if resolved nonviolently or harmful if resolved by using violence of any type.
Historians, educators, civil rights leaders, and political leaders all promote and highlight the racial equality King that led America to confront and defeat legal racial discrimination in the United States. The downside to only promoting the racial equality King is that it overshadows the fundamental King’s wisdom on how to resolve all types of racial, economic, religious, social, philosophical, or political conflict nonviolently. The fundamental King’s doctrine that all human beings are spiritual brothers and sisters, empowered Dr. King to live and work by the principle of resolving all conflicts or disagreements in life nonviolently.
Resolving all conflicts or disagreements nonviolently doesn’t just mean the absence of physical violence, it also means the absence of verbal violence. That’s why not only was there never an inch of property damaged by any protest demonstration Dr. King ever led, but Dr. King would never allow a protestor to carry a protest sign that communicated anything violent, even against Civil Rights most violent opponents, such as Bull Conner is evil, Go to Hell George Wallace or Death To The Klu Klux Klan. And unlike many American Blacks during the Civil Rights Movement, the fundamental Dr. King adamantly refused to use the term “Black Power”, because according to Dr. King its use had “connotations of violence and separatism”.
Unfortunately at this time when America needs maximum exposure to the fundamental Martin Luther King Jr., books about Dr. King are being banned by some school districts. Banning books about Dr. King from American schools is also ironic, considering that the last 3 mass murders were committed by males who had attended high schools within 3 years before committing their violent acts of murder.
Maybe if the young assassins of Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and now Highland Park, Illinois had been exposed in high school to PRINCIPLE ONE of Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence which is:
Nonviolence Is a Way of Life for Courageous People
- It is not a method for cowards; it does resist.
- It is active nonviolent resistance to evil.
- It is aggressive spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
They might have chosen to be aggressive warriors who turned to the lessons of the fundamental King, to generate the necessary nonviolent tension or nonviolent disruption that would have brought attention to their cause or gripe, instead of choosing to be assassins who turned to an AR-15 assault rifle creating destruction and murder that brought condemnation to themselves and their cause.
There have been more than 300 mass murders this year in America, and restricting classroom access to the nonviolent fundamental King is at minimum reckless and at maximum pre-meditated murder. Instead of banning books about Dr. King, students need to be exposed to books written by Dr. King like Strength to Love or Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos Or Community? Both books deal specifically with how to apply the fundamental King’s method of resolving conflict aggressively but nonviolently.
Dr. King led a nonviolent movement that accomplished what America’s most violent and deadliest war, the Civil War, did not. The nonviolent Civil Rights Movement brought the American government with the most powerful military force in human history to its knees, without ever having fired a single shot nor destructed a single inch of property!!! Martin Luther King Jr. is the world’s GOAT on how to focus attention or how to force change NONVIOLENTLY.
Dr. King’s Six Steps Of Nonviolent Social Change are accessible for use by everyone who seeks attention for their cause or a change in their circumstances. For instance, no matter how misguided or how far-right white replacement theory is, there are nonviolent ways for white replacement theory proponents to draw attention to it, or to express their support for it without committing mass murders. There are fundamental King-inspired ways the Capitol Hill insurrectionists could have protested the 2020 election at the U.S. Capitol, without harming a blade of grass or breaching the secured doors of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, and still made their protest presence against the election results felt throughout America in a very impactful but nonviolent way.
The only reason future white replacement proponents and future election insurrectionist will resolve their conflict issues nonviolently, is because they have had exposure to the fundamental King. Therefore America’s schools and colleges, religious institutions, cultural institutions, federal, state, and local governments, corporations, news media, and entertainment industry are encouraged to continue to promote and highlight the racial equality King during Black History Month in February.
But ultimately to stop the escalating violence in the United States gun safety laws, red flag laws, age requirements to purchase guns, and increased spending on mental health, have to be combined with America’s religious institutions, cultural institutions, federal, state, and local governments, corporations, news media, entertainment industry, and most importantly all school and college curriculums doing their part to promote and EDUCATE 100% of America about the fundamental King, March thru January, every year starting now until we create Dr. King’s Beloved Community.
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