Reflecting on the Lessons from the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.

By Allison Mahaley

One year after the armed insurrection against our government, there are some hard truths and lessons we are still grappling with. As we reflect on this approaching holiday weekend that honors The Rev. Dr. MLK, Jr. I hope we can all take stock of where we are and what we as individuals can do to move the needle and be the change. 

 First, let’s not conflate the methods embraced by our fallen leader with the message he preached. While the Reverend often spoke passionately about peace, he never focused on peace for the sake of peace. He always focused on peace as the way to equality.  His message was to use peaceful resistance in the face of violence to create a stark contrast to the anger, violence, and hate of the white people who were standing the way of equality. He created a polarization of appearance and then asked – “on which side do you want to be? Which is more humane?” 

During his time, as black protestors sat calmly at lunch counters or marched for the right vote, they stood with dignity, poised with grace while ordinary white men, women and children, in stark contrast, beat them, spat on them, poured hot coffee on them; badged officers of the law sprayed them with water cannons, beat them with night sticks, provoked dogs to maul them, and shot them with impunity; and gangs of white men attempted to quell the support for the movement for equality MLK is credited for helping create by murdering supporters, orchestrating public hangings, organizing lynch mobs, and even bombing churches and synagogues. Yet, as MLK sat in a Birmingham jail reflecting on the dilemma, he lamented more the complacency of white progressives as they implored him to not push so hard or demand too much so soon. As we have written in Equipping Anti-Racism Allies, White Allies are the ones who can create the sea change necessary to complete the fight for equality, shifting some 50% of the white population into believing that racism is a real problem! 

Two years since the murders of Brionna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd in close succession Americans must reflect on how far we have come in the 93 years since MLK’s birth and admit that it is not far enough. 

As Tim Wise wrote on January 12th,  “conservatism thrives on white grievance” and white grievance is at the heart of the current CRT debate. Like all culture wars, compassion can change the outcome – and this was MLK’s real message. 

In 2020, as the country was moved into multiracial support for Black Lives Matter, the protests - some peaceful, some not, showed a glimmer of hope for unity and progress. As we continue in 2022 struggling to cope with a still raging pandemic -America is miles from away from “The Promised Land.” Isolation and polarization plague our nation, and peaceful protesting will not solve that ailment. Creating connections, especially between those who identify as white requires a culture shift away from the America of Marlboro Men, rugged individualism, and independence, toward one of connection, vulnerability, and interdependence. The only way to create these desperately needed connections is through dialogue – honest, open vulnerable dialogue.

 Brene Brown wrote in her 2015 book, Rising Strong, “Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”

 As a change consultant, I know that change can only happen when folks are ready and willing to be vulnerable. Using dialogue as a way to connect, having no agenda about the outcome of that connection, we can dare to hope for a step forward.  

Finally, 54 years since the assassination of MLK, America is at an historical turning point. Will it be torn apart “by internal decay,”, or will we choose to invest in building a community based on connections? Will we devolve into revolution seeking greater personal freedoms on one side and greater social responsibility on the other? I hope we choose transformative dialogues. 

“Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes-hostile world, declaring eternal opposition to poverty, racism and militarism. With this powerful commitment, we shall boldly challenge the status quo and unjust mores and thereby speed the day when every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places plain.”

-MLK

Interested in transformative dialogue? Join the conversation today.