On Saturday January 15, Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been 93 years old. He was only 39 when he was assassinated in Memphis, TN on April 4, 1968. The goal of his life and ministry was the development of what he called the Beloved Community in which all people are seen and treated as beloved children of God. His leadership in challenging legal racial segregation in the South is well known. This contributed to landmark legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Dr. King has become a highly respected and honored figure as the preeminent civil rights leader in American history. Yet much less well known is that at the time of his death, Dr. King was one of the most unpopular and hated men in the country. His commitment to the Beloved Community caused him to go beyond focusing on legal segregation to confront what he called the giant triplets of evil – racism, war, and poverty. This more expansive vision resulted in opposition from former allies who wanted him to limit his work to “civil rights.” In particular, the Johnson administration which had supported Dr. King’s civil rights work in the South turned against him when he opposed the war in Vietnam. The first video posted below provides a glimpse into Dr. King’s opposition to war as incompatible with commitment to the Beloved Community.
When Dr. King was killed in April 1968, he was in the process of organizing the Poor People’s Campaign. This was an effort to mobilize low income people of different racial backgrounds who would come to Washington, DC and camp out on the National Mall to dramatize economic injustice that relegated millions of people to poverty in the richest nation on earth. The goal was to advocate for national legislation to provide a basic level of economic security as a foundation of the Beloved Community. The second video posted below starts with the last birthday of his life followed by some of Dr. King’s efforts to organize the campaign he did not live to see.
As we commemorate the MLK, Jr. national holiday, it is essential to honor the “real” Dr. King and his vision of the Beloved Community. In 2022 we still face the giant triplets of racism, war, and poverty that prevent us from living into the Beloved Community. Honoring Dr. King means both realizing his expansive vision of the Beloved Community and committing ourselves to that same vision in 2022. We can expect resistance and setbacks. Yet we can also expect the power of God’s love and justice to sustain us and to ultimately prevail through the Beloved Community.