Another Martin Luther King Day is here again and, as usual, Dr. King's written and spoken words of 40-50 years ago continue to speak to America's current problems. King helped lead the successful civil rights movement of the late 1950s and '60s in our country. Many people despised him for what he was doing in trying to free African-Americans as individuals and as a nation from the bondage of racial prejudice, segregation, and social injustice. They called him dangerous, troublemaker, unpatriotic, a communist.
King was a true prophet. Today, King would be calling on individuals, churches and government to work for the common good with special emphasis on ministering to the needs of the least among us. His detractors would call him a socialist.
In a sermon excerpt from his book, “Strength to Love”, King said, "We must honestly recognize that truth is not to be found either in traditional capitalism or in Marxism. Each represents a partial truth. Historically, capitalism failed to discern the truth in collective enterprise and Marxism failed to see the truth in individual enterprise. Nineteenth-century capitalism failed to appreciate that life is social and Marxism failed, and still fails, to see that life is individual and social. The Kingdom of God is neither the thesis of individual enterprise nor the antithesis of collective enterprise, but a synthesis which reconciles the truth of both."
It seems Dr. King was suggesting our economic system, devoid of greed, should be composed of the best ideas from capitalism and socialism. The civil rights movement could not have succeeded without government-changing laws. Structural injustice in our socio-economic system can only be changed for the better via government. We the people, collectively, are the government.
Tragically, at the peak of his career, King was slain in Memphis, on April 4, 1968. Not only did King die that day, so did a large part of America in terms of hope for equality among mankind.
Though he has passed on, King's legacy continues: The fact that his birthday is a national holiday and that a black man, Barack Obama, is President of the United States serve as living proof.
King was a true prophet. Today, King would be calling on individuals, churches and government to work for the common good with special emphasis on ministering to the needs of the least among us. His detractors would call him a socialist.
In a sermon excerpt from his book, “Strength to Love”, King said, "We must honestly recognize that truth is not to be found either in traditional capitalism or in Marxism. Each represents a partial truth. Historically, capitalism failed to discern the truth in collective enterprise and Marxism failed to see the truth in individual enterprise. Nineteenth-century capitalism failed to appreciate that life is social and Marxism failed, and still fails, to see that life is individual and social. The Kingdom of God is neither the thesis of individual enterprise nor the antithesis of collective enterprise, but a synthesis which reconciles the truth of both."
It seems Dr. King was suggesting our economic system, devoid of greed, should be composed of the best ideas from capitalism and socialism. The civil rights movement could not have succeeded without government-changing laws. Structural injustice in our socio-economic system can only be changed for the better via government. We the people, collectively, are the government.
Tragically, at the peak of his career, King was slain in Memphis, on April 4, 1968. Not only did King die that day, so did a large part of America in terms of hope for equality among mankind.
Though he has passed on, King's legacy continues: The fact that his birthday is a national holiday and that a black man, Barack Obama, is President of the United States serve as living proof.
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