Martin Luther King Domesticated

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

To open with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. simply seems appropriate this week. At the same time, I wonder about the effectiveness of regurgitating quotes about action. MLK has been institutionalized, watered down, and domesticated.

Anyone fortunate enough to hear Dr. Cornel West speak on Monday at JMU was blessed with a more eloquent and articulate explanation than I have space or ability to say in this article. Dr. West expressed an intention to "unsettle" his audience and he struck a cord, at the least, in me.

The reminder that "Martin was a dangerous man" created an awareness to the power of the powers that be. I grew up thinking of MLK as a gentle and a kind man, not as a thorn in the government's side. I perceived him as a person who effectively guided the nation to a clear and obvious moral conclusion. At a University which praises non-violence there is an ominous silence amongst the rank and file.

EMU, by virtue of affiliation, is part of a rich historical tradition of peace action and social justice work. Furthermore, EMU is an institution of people. Who then is willing to fight the ever-present impositions of silence? Every so often I hear of wonderful activities promoting awareness and solidarity, but again I was challenged Monday evening when Dr. West asked, "Are these January meetings routinized or, do they let us become Socratic and prophetic?"

We have routinized MLK day. We do not take the day off of classes for reflection and appreciation as does every public school in the nation. Martin Luther King is the single most important civil rights player for our whole country, not just the approximately 34% of Americans who gained true emancipation, but he is apparently not important enough for our recognition.

Ultimately, does it matter? Not really, and in fact, when you philosophize it, January 15 is just another day. Just another day, like the first day of the holocaust, the last day of the American Revolution, the day Saddam Hussein was hanged, the first day of the Iraq War, the day the Patriot Act was passed, the day Christ died, and so on and so forth.

Eventually, someone always stands up for what is right, even if that right is not always in their interest. Good always triumphs, so why bother putting your own neck on the line? Surely, eventually someone will stand up for what is right.

The issue distills into the oft-quoted Edmund Burke line, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Our resignation comes with justifications: "I donate to (insert charity)," or "I protested (insert cause)," or "I voted in (insert election)," or "I went to church and prayed for (insert global issue)." Too many of us sponsor a Compassion International child and tell ourselves we would have marched on Washington with King because we now know it is clearly the correct thing to do.

Since we have already convinced ourselves we would have joined the fight against oppression, we quickly disregard systematic oppression. We act as if our neighborhoods, and effectively our schools, are no longer segregated. We sit in the same cafeteria as "them" without complaint. Really, why should we have to sit at the same table? In the end we have nothing in common.

But we do have something in common. Dr. West believes Martin Luther King understood that regardless of what composes the individual, we need to "look at everyone on a human continuum." We also have something else in common. Injustice rears its ugly head in every corner of the world.

At our own institution we have Bull O'Connors everywhere. Teachers bully students, students bully teachers, and the silencing of fearful minorities and majorities happens in various settings. We all enact different forms of oppression and coercion against each other for reasons ranging from insecurity to power jockeying.

Again, standing up becomes the issue. Far too often we sit comfortably in our favorite chair and watch the manipulative media fill us with grief and relief. "Over there" is always so terrible; fortunately our commercials remind us how easy it is to order a pizza so we do not have to cook when "Grey's Anatomy" or "American Idol" is on. It just seems fitting to close with another Martin Luther King reminder: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

Contact Kevin at: kevin.ressler@emu.edu