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The Meaning of the
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
By Coretta Scott King
 The
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday celebrates the life and legacy of a man
who brought hope and healing to America. We commemorate as well the
timeless values he taught us through his example -- the values of courage,
truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so
radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership. On
this holiday, we commemorate the universal, unconditional love,
forgiveness and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary spirit.
We commemorate Dr. King’s inspiring words, because his voice and his
vision filled a great void in our nation, and answered our collective
longing to become a country that truly lived by its noblest principles.
Yet, Dr. King knew that it wasn’t enough just to talk the talk, that he
had to walk the walk for his words to be credible. And so we commemorate
on this holiday the man of action, who put his life on the line for
freedom and justice every day, the man who braved threats and jail and
beatings and who ultimately paid the highest price to make democracy a
reality for all Americans.
The King Holiday honors the life and contributions of America’s greatest
champion of racial justice and equality, the leader who not only dreamed
of a color-blind society, but who also lead a movement that achieved
historic reforms to help make it a reality.
On this day we commemorate Dr. King’s great dream of a vibrant,
multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation; a nation
that has a place at the table for children of every race and room at the
inn for every needy child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to
honor, but to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial
sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great dream for
America.
It is a day of interracial and intercultural cooperation and sharing. No
other day of the year brings so many peoples from different cultural
backgrounds together in such a vibrant spirit of brother and sisterhood.
Whether you are African-American, Hispanic or Native American, whether you
are Caucasian or Asian-American, you are part of the great dream Martin
Luther King, Jr. had for America. This is not a black holiday; it is a
peoples' holiday. And it is the young people of all races and religions
who hold the keys to the fulfillment of his dream.
We commemorate on this holiday the ecumenical leader and visionary who
embraced the unity of all faiths in love and truth. And though we take
patriotic pride that Dr. King was an American, on this holiday we must
also commemorate the global leader who inspired nonviolent liberation
movements around the world. Indeed, on this day, programs commemorating my
husband’s birthday are being observed in more than 100 nations.
The King Holiday celebrates Dr. King’s global vision of the world house, a
world whose people and nations had triumphed over poverty, racism, war and
violence. The holiday celebrates his vision of ecumenical solidarity, his
insistence that all faiths had something meaningful to contribute to
building the beloved community.
The Holiday commemorates America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence ---
the man who taught by his example that nonviolent action is the most
powerful, revolutionary force for social change available to oppressed
people in their struggles for liberation.
This holiday honors the courage of a man who endured harassment, threats
and beatings, and even bombings. We commemorate the man who went to jail
29 times to achieve freedom for others, and who knew he would pay the
ultimate price for his leadership, but kept on marching and protesting and
organizing anyway.
Every King holiday has been a national "teach-in" on the values of
nonviolence, including unconditional love, tolerance, forgiveness and
reconciliation, which are so desperately-needed to unify America. It is a
day of intensive education and training in Martin’s philosophy and methods
of nonviolent social change and conflict-reconciliation. The Holiday
provides a unique opportunity to teach young people to fight evil, not
people, to get in the habit of asking themselves, "what is the most loving
way I can resolve this conflict?"
On the King holiday, young people learn about the power of unconditional
love even for one's adversaries as a way to fight injustice and defuse
violent disputes. It is a time to show them the power of forgiveness in
the healing process at the interpersonal as well as international levels.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is not only for celebration and remembrance,
education and tribute, but above all a day of service. All across America
on the Holiday, his followers perform service in hospitals and shelters
and prisons and wherever people need some help. It is a day of
volunteering to feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, tutoring those who
can't read, mentoring at-risk youngsters, consoling the broken-hearted and
a thousand other projects for building the beloved community of his dream.
Dr. King once said that we all have to decide whether we "will walk in the
light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Life's most persistent and nagging question, he said, is `what are you
doing for others?'" he would quote Mark 9:35, the scripture in which Jesus
of Nazareth tells James and John "...whosoever will be great among you
shall be your servant; and whosoever among you will be the first shall be
the servant of all." And when Martin talked about the end of his mortal
life in one of his last sermons, on February 4, 1968 in the pulpit of
Ebenezer Baptist Church, even then he lifted up the value of service as
the hallmark of a full life. "I'd like somebody to mention on that day
Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to give his life serving others," he said.
"I want you to say on that day, that I did try in my life...to love and
serve humanity.
We call you to commemorate this Holiday by making your personal commitment
to serve humanity with the vibrant spirit of unconditional love that was
his greatest strength, and which empowered all of the great victories of
his leadership. And with our hearts open to this spirit of unconditional
love, we can indeed achieve the Beloved Community of Martin Luther King,
Jr.’s dream.
May we who follow Martin now pledge to serve humanity, promote his
teachings and carry forward his legacy into the 21st Century.
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