Dr. King helps us to see the world and hear the Christian message from the perspective of the dispossessed and the powerless. While he himself grew up in middle-class economic conditions and enjoyed the advantages of higher education, he did experience a few striking instances of racial prejudice; which enabled him to achieve genuine empathy for the oppressed. He gave voice to the unheard cries of the poor and helped put the cruel face of oppression on TV. His preaching showed how biblical themes and images could actually be used as a catalyst for action on behalf of justice, rather than as an opiate to create passive dependency.
His charismatic leadership of the nonviolent civil rights movement forced many people for the first time to confront racial injustice in our society. He called for “nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.” He continues to be such a gadfly for us today.
Dr. King well understood that the oppressors in any situation are always impoverished and distorted by their hardness of heart and moral blindness. Prejudiced individuals use the oppressed class as a scapegoat on which they project their own hidden fears and unresolved conflicts. The dominant group rules out the experience of the outsiders, thus depriving themselves of a fuller sense of what authentic existence should be.
Given this insight, King did not wish to defeat or to humiliate the oppressors. He wanted to liberate them as well from the enslavements generated by their privilege and their prejudices. He called for dialogue and cooperation in an effort to achieve a better society for all.
The Christian injunction to love enemies translated for him into a program for befriending the persecutors. His statement, “hate is just as injurious to the hater as it is to the hated,” is a timely reminder for all struggling for liberation today to channel their energies in constructive directions.
King knew only too well that sin has been embedded in economic and social structures. The family life of Black Americans had been systematically attacked by the institution of slavery. He had to sit in the back of the bus and could not eat at lunch counters because of laws and social customs which were unjust and dehumanizing. He fought against a political system which denied citizens their right to vote. He opposed the arms race between the superpowers because it threatens humanity with destruction and because it takes food out of the mouths of the poor. In sum, King had a deep and comprehensive sense of social sin and constantly worked for institutional change. He put it simply: “Compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar, it understands that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” Thus he reminds us today to be more attuned to institutional oppression of all kinds, and he challenges us to work for systemic justice.
Dr. King spoke of the blindness of people who are imprisoned in their own ideology and selfishness. They suffer from a false consciousness which makes self-criticism impossible and obscures important truths. That is why sincere Christians accepted the system of slavery and fabricated spurious arguments to justify it. worked out rational religious and scientific justifications for it.
Status and social location influence our perception of the truth. King’s solution to this kind of moral and intellectual blindness was through the practice of love. To be in solidarity with the poor, to work for the liberation of the oppressed, to fight on the side of the victimized is to come to the truth in a new way. Loving activity brings new perspectives, reveals hidden contradictions and grounds the search for truth.
Liberation theologians say that orthopraxis leads to orthodoxy, which means that the concrete effort to liberate human beings and to build a community of love (orthopraxis) is the real basis for a deeper understanding of the true meaning of the Christian gospel (orthodoxy). Dr. King, drum major for justice, reminds us of this truth when he says “We must love our enemies because only by loving them can we know God and experience the beauty of his holiness.”
King adopted a dialectical approach to his country and his Church. This allowed him to criticize them vigorously and honestly for not living up to their ideals, but at the same time to draw on their resources and symbols in the struggle for human liberation. With courageous honesty, he castigated the Christian churches for their silence in the face of human suffering and for their tacit support of unjust social and economic systems. Nevertheless, he did not succumb to hatred of these institutions nor did he totally abandon them because of their failures. He called on them to be faithful to their true ideals. He demanded that America live out the true meaning of its creed that all people are created equal. He challenged the Churches to return to the sacrificial spirit of the early Christian community which enabled it to resist evil and to transform society.
Dr. King wanted social change and he knew that this required the mobilization of the best of our common traditions. But the man who articulated the inspiring dream of all God’s children living in peace and harmony also said: “To produce change, people must be organized to work together in units of power.” Today’s challenges continue to demand that we gather around shared interests and our traditional national and religious symbols in an effort to enlist as many as possible in the struggle to humanize our world.
Martin Luther King had a grand vision and a greatness of soul which can challenge the narrowness and pettiness of both those with power and those fighting for freedom. He exemplified in word and action the major themes enunciated by today’s liberationists; but he always surrounded and supported his analyses and efforts by an emphasis on nonviolent, forgiving active love. “Love is the most durable power in the world,” he declared with evident conviction. On his federal holiday, Dr. Martin Luther King, drum major for justice, still summons us today to follow his example of working for the liberation of all people through the power of love.
About the Author
Fr. James J. Bacik has served as a priest of the Diocese of Toledo since his ordination in 1962. He is a widely regarded theologian, writer, lecturer and pastor who served as campus minister and adjunct professor of humanities at the University of Toledo for more than 30 years. Fr. Bacik is an AUSCP member. Visit his website at frjimbacik.org.