01/21/2002

EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09658

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Those are the words of Martin Luther King, Junior, the American civil rights leader. Today [January 21^st], Americans observe a national holiday in his honor.

Dr. King, a Baptist minister, was one of the world’s best known advocates of non-violent social change. As a doctoral student at Boston University, he became acquainted with the teachings of Mohandas Gandhi, the pacifist who united the people of India against the British colonial rule.

Applying the principle of nonviolence to the civil rights movement in the United States, Martin Luther King preached racial equality at a time when black Americans were still victims of segregation and discrimination. In 1957, he traveled more than one-million kilometers around the U-S and delivered over two-hundred speeches.

Martin Luther King’s message of meeting hate with love eventually brought about enormous change in the United States. His words were heard by millions of people around the world.

One of his most memorable speeches was delivered in the summer of 1963 during the famous March on Washington. The event attracted more than two-hundred-fifty thousand participants.

Dr. King set the tone by saying that "We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again," he continued, "we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence...have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone."

It took great courage for Martin Luther King to pursue the cause of civil rights. Indeed, in 1968 he was slain by an assassin.

President George W. Bush said, "Through the efforts of heroes like Martin Luther King, Junior, and other brave men and women of the civil rights movement, our nation has made progress in battling racism and building a society that more fully lives up to its democratic ideals."