Inaction does injustice to the legacy of Dr. King

Inaction does injustice
to the legacy of Dr. King

The Mahoning and Shenango valleys join the rest of the nation today in marking the life and achievements of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in the year that also marks the 40th anniversary of the civil rights leader’s assassination in Memphis.

The days following the April 4, 1968, killing of Dr. King were anything but civil. In Youngstown and in other major cities across the United States, the response to the assassination was swift and violent: firebomb-tossing and gunshot-ringing rioting, strictly enforced curfews and National Guard units patrolling tense streets.

The riots twisted, distorted and demeaned Dr. King’s messages of nonviolent action and civil disobedience. But the violence, however, also underscored the intense passion many held for the leader and his vision — a vision that some thought may have died with King’s death that April evening.

Today’s 22nd federally sanctioned holiday in King’s honor proves King’s vision, King’s dream and King’s agenda have not been extinguished. Indeed many in the Mahoning Valley and in the nation remain passionately committed to them.

Some will point to the strides the ongoing civil rights movement has wrought over the past four decades. The status of African-Americans today has improved dramatically since the dawn of King’s activism in the 1950s, when almost 90 percent of blacks lived in poverty. Today more than 40 percent of blacks describe themselves as middle class. College attendance rates are as high as those for whites. And a black American finds himself a front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.

King in 2008

If King were alive today, he would be 79. We won’t speculate on how he would feel about the many advances achieved since his death. Speculation is not what King was about.

Dr. King was a man about action. Americans who want to honor his spirit and advance his dream can best do so by following his activist —and nonviolent — example.

They can get volunteer their time and muscle to the Rescue Mission, the Second Harvest Food Bank, St. Vincent de Paul Society or other agencies working to stem the rising tide of poverty, hunger and homelessness in our community.

They can strengthen coalitions advocating nonviolent progressive change by lending their input to such local organizations as the Urban League, NAACP, and ACTION (Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods).

Or they can do so in more personal ways: rejecting a racist joke, strengthening ties with an acquaintance of another race or simply rethinking their own racial attitudes.

Clearly inaction will accomplish nothing at a time when so much remains to be accomplished. High school dropout rates among blacks are shamefully much higher than national averages. Too many American schools and communities are becoming resegregated. And crime in the black community remains intolerably high.

Amid such challenges, Josh Hideg, a Liberty High School student who took part in an informal forum on MLK with The Vindicator, is insightful beyond his years in recognizing “ Dr. King’s point really has not gotten across.”

And as long as some of us are willing to shrug off festering remnants of racism and as long as we fail to take constructive action — regardless of how small — to advance King’s vision, completion of the civil rights leader’s dream will forever be deferred.