In the summer of 1968, shortly after my father, #MLK, was assassinated, my mother, #CorettaScottKing, addressed @Harvard’s Class of 68. Her words concerning student/youth activism are powerful and relevant. Sharing excerpts from her message in this thread:
“In a power-drunk world, where means become ends, and violence becomes a favorite pastime, we are swiftly moving toward self-annihilation. Your generation must speak out with righteous indignation against the forces which are seeking to destroy us.” #CorettaScottKing
“It is a totally novel development and a paradoxical one that students, most of whom have no vote, emerge as a formidable political force for progressive change.” #CorettaScottKing
“Along with classes and races and conventional pressure groups, generations are now useful and appropriate categories of historical action and understanding.” #CorettaScottKing
“Indeed, the enthusiasm of students in a political cause is a vestment of its legitimacy and honesty.” #CorettaScottKing
“The political scene in our country has never been so marked by student action, and it is not reckless to predict that this is no aberrant phenomenon but a fundamental shift in social patterns that will distinguish this era from others past.” #CorettaScottKing
“The student protest is a demand for decent human values and individual expression...Each one of us is being called to help save our society and the world from destruction.” #CorettaScottKing
“I say, with all due respect to the office of the President of the United States, that even intense prayer and a new commission of notables, will not ease the violence in our lives.” #CorettaScottKing 👑
”This no time for business as usual, and strengthening the police is business as usual - a tried and false answer.” #CorettaScottKing
“There is reason to hope and to struggle if young people continue to hold high the banner of freedom.” #CorettaScottKing
“I am a religious person in the most unqualified sense of the word but I will say emphatically that there is more moral vitality and honest searching for values of life animating the campuses today than can be found in our churches.” #CorettaScottKing
“The world is in dire need of a spiritual awakening which will make those eternal values of love, justice, mercy and peace meaningful in our time.” #CorettaScottKing
“Finally, in struggling to give meaning to your own lives, as students you are preserving the best in our traditions and are breaking new ground in your restless search for truth. With this creative force to inspire all of us we may yet not only survive - we may triumph.” #CSK
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If our ultimate goal is to create a more peaceful, just, humane world (beyond only considering what we believe directly affects us), we’ll have to stop talking at each other and start talking with each other.
We’ll have to educate each other on issues, even when it seems unfair and tedious.
We’ll have to rigorously attack injustice, not being provoked to chaos by workers of injustice.
Nonviolence is not passive; nor does it cower in the face of evil and injustice. However, it is strategic, active and tactical, with an ultimate goal in mind. Now the question is: What’s the ultimate goal?
A critical mass of people with a shared ultimate goal will help us develop a global, comprehensive strategy. We determine the parts that make up the whole. So reuniting children with families is a part of the ultimate goal of creating a more peaceful, just, humane world.
But understand these words from my father: “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.” People who are complicit in facilitating injustice must be honest about the source of tension; and work for justice, instead of only condemning disorder.
Un-sanitize my father. It’s hypocritical to “celebrate” #MLK, but be against justice and true peace; and to demonize those who share truth about injustice. This, too, is MLK: “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
How can you love #MLK and love separating immigrant children from their families?
How can you love #MLK and not feel pain when a 10-year Black boy is handcuffed by police for fitting a description?
#SteveBannon has dangerously and erroneously co-opted my father’s name, work and words.
Bannon’s assertion that my father, #MLK, would be proud of Donald Trump wholly ignores Daddy’s commitment to people of all races, nationalities, etc. being treated with dignity and respect.
My father’s concerns were not sectional, but global. He was an activist for the civil rights of Black people in America, but he was also an activist for human rights. #MLK
Further, he would not refer to people as “illegal aliens.” The term is degrading and does not reflect his belief that we are all a part of the human family. #MLK
THIS is an attempt to take us back to the days of lynching and public humiliation to scare other Black people and keep them in their place. But we are beyond woke. We will continue to pursue truth and justice until these evil practices stop.
From ex-NFL Player Desmond Marrow: "I was falsely arrested & taken into custody in Atlanta by the Henry County Police . I only had my cell phone in my possession and they claimed to be scared for their lives . I had no type of weapon in my possession.”
”I was arrested for having a gun that turned out to be my cell phone. During the arrest the police knocked my teeth out, slammed me on my head and choked me out until I was unconscious. In addition I suffered a shoulder strain and a concussion.”