Forty years ago, on April 4, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while on the balcony of Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The hero of the civil rights movement in United States was helping organize a strike for sanitation workers, one of the poorest workers’ groups in the city.
King is remembered for his messages of equality, tolerance and non-violence delivered at a time when US was deeply divided over racial lines. Long after the assassination of 1968, King remains one of the most respected and remembered figures in the US and his messages hold appeal in various corners of the world where the downtrodden campaign for their civil rights and liberties.
On Friday hundreds of people, especially those from workers’ unions, marched in Memphis carrying umbrellas in heavy rain, to remember King.
Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama addressed a rally in Indiana to honour the legacy of King. Obama said King recognized “that no matter what the color of our skin, no matter what faith we practice, no matter how much money we have — no matter whether we are sanitation workers or United States senators — we all have a stake in one another, we are our brother’s keeper, we are our sister’s keeper, and either we go up together, or we go down together."
King taught Americans to wage a struggle of civil disobedience for equal rights while practicing tolerance and non-violence. He was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of Indian independence movement. King’s speeches and writings have inspired civil rights activists worldwide.
As we Maldivians are at a crossroad of transition, we have much to learn from King’s legacy and messages. Our society is highly polarised along political lines, and divisions among us are setting the stage for potential violence and conflict. Our young people are in a void; without leaders to look upon, and finding solace only in heroin. Gang violence among youth is at an all time high, with young people dying or sustaining severe injuries in meaningless fights. Young gangs are used by politicians for their dirty games, while most politicians have a poor record of standing up for civil rights. Crime is eroding the peace and tranquility we once enjoyed. We take pride in saying that our forefathers offered hospitality to foreign visitors but we are being increasingly disrespectful and intolerant of the migrant workers working and living among us.
While our nation is struggling in the road to democracy, we have to learn the values of tolerance and patience that Martin Luther King preached. We have to teach our young people that human lives are sacred and that conflicts have to be resolved without resorting to violence. We have to learn to respect human beings regardless of their race, colour, ethnicity and religion. If there ever came a critical moment in our history to do a soul searching and turn to nonviolence and tolerance, that moment is now. If there ever came a moment in our history for us to be persistent in fighting for our civil rights, that moment is now.
Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech Text, Audio and Video from AmericanRhetoric.com
Video of I Have a Dream speech from YouTube.com
3 responses so far ↓
1 XefroX // Apr 5, 2008 at 5:09 am
this is one of my fav speech..agree with u…
2 afu // May 18, 2008 at 12:57 am
great article! loved it.
3 Happy Birthday MLK! // Jan 15, 2010 at 1:50 pm
[...] Martin Luther King, the hero of US civil rights movement, was born on 15 January, 1929. King is remembered for his messages of equality, tolerance and non-violence delivered at a time when US was deeply divided over racial lines. Long after the assassination of 1968, King remains one of the most respected and remembered figures in the US and his messages hold appeal in various corners of the world where the downtrodden campaign for their civil rights and liberties. As we Maldivians are at a crossroad of transition, we have much to learn from King’s legacy and messages. [...]
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