Happy Birthday Dr Martin Luther King

I am a disciple of Dr Martin Luther King.

I couldn't write a thesis as to exactly why I am or if others feel likewise, what the requirements are  to belong to such a group would be. All I know is that like him (but on a much smaller scale) I want to use my energy to fight for greater social and racial justice. That's it in a nutshell.

Actually, Dr King himself put it a whole lot simpler. Whilst he was visiting East Berlin during the height of the Cold War when nations were divided; East and West, North against South, Black against White he delivered a very special speech. Quoting the great reformist Martin luther, King delivered a beautiful humbling line: "Here I stand. I can do no other."

King was still a young man but he had already taken on the most powerful nation on the planet. He demanded racial and then social equality, would fly to Europe's divided epicentre (to the politically wrong side of that centre of gravity) in order to bring people, societies, and nations together with the most humbling of messages.

A Message Of Unity

What does that simple sentence say, what does it mean?

"Here I stand. I can do no other."

To me at least, it means that he was saying; 'I don't look like you, we don't speak some language, you probably don't see me as your equal, but I am you. And in my God-given humility, I will fight for you too, because in fighting for you I'm fighting for humanity. I can do no other".

It's the 'I can do no other', aspect I find remarkable. Dr Martin Luther King is not the only one to venture down this path, of course, although he did pay the ultimate price. I remember being struck by the great African American operatic singer Paul Robeson, who is his very prime, particularly financially said: "with all my wealth I can't be happy whilst African Americans are subject to so much racism." As a result, he abandoned the US Operatic circuit that would use him as a poster boy to proclaim how 'fair' the US is, to come to Europe to campaign from afar.

Billie Holiday sang, perhaps the most haunting Ballard ever sung to racial discrimination when she reminded America of its 'Strange fruit' – reference to lynching and hanging from Southern trees. And who could forget Olympic gold medalist Muhammad Ali threw his gold medal into the Ohio River after coming triumphantly home from the Games.

A New Generation Of Dr King's Disciples

And as we enter 2021 there is a new generation of Dr Martin Luther King disciples, and let's forget that like in the Civil Rights of the 1960's the movement was Black-led with White allies. With hundreds of thousands of them taking to the streets of New York, London, Berlin, Dublin and Bristol, they like the campaigners in the 60's and 70's have shaken our institutions to the core with their central demand for greater social and racial justice.

To them on this day I salute you, but I would also say learn from the great men and women who changed our world. The first stop might be to get one of the most important activist manuals you'll ever read: Dr King's 'Great stride forward'.

The Montgomery bus boycott story. When people think of the Rosa Parks bus boycott they usually think of that one incident on that one day. Nothing could be further from the truth. This book manual will not only teach you how to organise against a severe and violent opposition, but we also learn how to deal with tensions within the African community including those Black leaders who were co-opted by the Gov to hold Black people and the struggle down Sound familiar!

Furthermore, this was not a one week or one month campaign, this was nearly two years long in which leaders such as King had their homes firebombed by white supremacists. This is a manual that shows you not only how to work on the ground - they had to ferry Black people to work so they wouldn't lose their jobs and coalition build, but also the ability to take your argument to the highest office in the land.

Given what occurred last year in the USA and the world this year's MLK day will have a greater meaning. I hope so. The societies need a new generation of MLK disciples to take on the mantle to change our world. Happy Birthday, MLK.

Simon Woolley

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A call to action...

For 24 years OBV have fought to ensure black and minority ethnic participation and representation in civic society. Efforts in continuing to do so though, relies on your help. That way we can continue this fight for greater race equality. What would give us a tremendous boost is if today, you made that small donation yourselves, but even more importantly if you encouraged others to do likewise.