OBSERVING MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY
On Monday, January 17, the nation celebrates the life and legacy of a remarkable man: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His impact upon American life has been profound and long-lasting. The King Center neatly summarizes his achievement: “During the less than 13 years of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December, 1955 until April 4, 1968, African Americans achieved more genuine progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced.” Dr. King and his colleagues set an example we follow to this day.
“…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 are times when you must take a stand that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but you must do it because it is right.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a large house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together – black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Muslim and Hindu – a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King warned of the dangers of bitterness and despair – dangers we still face when contemplating the current scene. 2022 finds the globe still suffering bitterly from a horrific pandemic. We understandably feel overwhelmed and powerless at times. Dr. King’s words remind us that we can change the world around us – if we act. Our participation will always be required to help create the just and equitable world of his galvanizing dream.
Making that a dream a reality requires of us the courage to face any and every challenge to the recognition of our shared humanity.
Dr. King showed us the way.
Mil gracias y bendiciones,
Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D.
Interim President