Catholic Men Lessons of a King

Jan 16, 2012

Most Americans have come to see Martin Luther King Jr. Day as simply part of a long weekend, with public institutions and many businesses closed for its observance. But the national holiday can take on greater importance if viewed through eyes of faith. We who reflect on Rev. King’s words can deepen our appreciation of how our faith can dynamically combat injustice in the public square.

This week listen to, watch or read excerpts of the “I Have a Dream” speech that King delivered in 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Ranked among the greatest speeches in U.S. history, it accomplished more than simply cementing King as the leader of the modern civil rights movement. The speech also resonated across racial lines with a visionary message of human dignity.

The most memorable line for me is the one in which King dreamed of a future when his children would be judged “by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.”

I’ve come to believe that King’s own suffering of injustice forged the man of vision who made that clarion call on character. King led marches against legalized racial segregation months before he verbalized his dream. Jim Crow – the name given collectively to the race-based codes across the Deep South designed to make blacks feel inferior economically, politically and socially – had many snarled human faces, hateful voices and lethal weapons.

Nevertheless King led others in protest to the point of landing in a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama.

Less appreciated today, but certainly no less significant, is his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Addressed to fellow clergymen, King explored the essence of justice. He concluded – citing both St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas – that true justice is aligned with a natural order rooted in God. Legalized racial segregation facilitated injustice on the outside and inside, by its very nature, because it “gives the segregator a false sense of superiority,” the “segregated a false sense of inferiority,” and “distorts the soul and damages the personality,” of the individual.

King advocated non-violence in the face of such dehumanizing injustice, speaking of responsible, loving, and respectful action rather than retribution against hate.

“I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice,” King argued, “is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law.”

An individual who breaks an unjust law “must do it openly, lovingly.” The authority for disobeying racial segregation transcended simply political, economic, or sociological lines. It stemmed from respectfully identifying the moral injustice and a sin of segregation and standing up against it out of love for humanity. 

Martin Luther King Day presents people of faith with an opportunity to reflect on the value of human life, discover the essence of justice and discern what we can do out of sacrificial love to fight injustice. Seize the chance and dream the dream.