After reading last Thursday's Heights coverage of the Martin Luther King, Jr., memorial, I felt the need to put my quoted comments into context. What follows is the message I shared with the Boston College community last Wednesday evening:
It amazes me how the name of this Southern son of a preacher man is often mentioned among those of our nation's founding fathers and past presidents.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Integrated within tales of the many great white heroes (and seldom acknowledged heroines), that have constructed this land of the free - our history books always manage to slip his story within its pages. And though it is disheartening that this is often, other than slavery, the only story told of my people's legacy on this land, it is empowering to read Dr. King's name in a sentence, paragraph, or even chapter within my texts. Unfortunately, Americans seem to have become desensitized to this individual's powerful impact on our nation. His name, however, has never and will never lose its significance to our history. For me, Dr. King's legacy is not solely a holiday or scholarship fund. Dr. King is a movement - representing an ongoing struggle for justice, morality, and truth.
Most Americans seem to believe that embodying Martin Luther King's philosophy requires simply agreeing with or occasionally reiterating such phrases as "equality for all," "I have a dream," or "let freedom ring." However, I have come to find that reflecting Dr. King's philosophy demands a greater commitment to the meaning of those phrases - most importantly, to embody King's dream requires action. Dr. King's philosophy has impacted my life beyond the flowery words of my elementary school teachers. My Boston College career has been dedicated to progressing King's dream through education, service, and activism. Every one of the courses I have taken, services I have given, or words I have written have been invested in furthering the desire we all possess, yet Dr. King expressed so completely - the desire for freedom.
I urge you to join in this continued struggle for the emancipation of all of God's children. In a society still burdened by intolerance, our voices - and even more so our actions - are beckoned. Racism, sexism, classism, and heterosexism are alive and strong in this so-called progressive 21st-century America.
So rise up against vicious crimes of hate towards our peers on and off campus. Rise up in support of a University nondiscrimination clause that protects individuals of all sexual orientations. Rise up and demand that your $33,000 education not be limited to that of a Eurocentric perspective. Rise up to educate those misguided individuals who exploit Dr. King's message of true equality for all to support their oppressive agendas.
Martin Luther King, Jr's generation saw need for change and committed themselves to realizing that change. Let's not forget that energy of yesterday in our pursuit of a better tomorrow. We are young, intelligent, and powerful. And we have been sitting down for too long. So today, let us celebrate the Kingian calling by applying his teachings to combat the intolerant conditions of our society. Maybe then Dr. King's dream will be realized.
Alexandria Bradshaw is the 2006 Boston College Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholar
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