Many citizens of my generation remember where they were when they first heard the news of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was driving across the Marshall Street Bridge in Richmond, Virginia, on my way to the Medical College of Virginia, where I was enrolled in chaplaincy training. When I reached the hospital parking lot, I remember sitting there with my hands on the steering wheel, tears streaming down my face. I shouted, “Martin, you shall not have died in vain!”
With these words, I was making a pledge made by countless others in the Freedom Movement. We were determined to complete the unfinished agenda so powerfully advanced by our fearless champion of peace, justice, nonviolence, and love.
After 39 years of sustained struggle toward the realization of King’s dream, there is increased clarity that the cause to which we committed ourselves in April 1968, will continue to encounter the strong resistance of the demonic forces of hatred, bigotry and violence.The fight for peace and justice involves fierce spiritual warfare.
Dr. King had warned us about the giant triplets of “racism, materialism, and militarism.” From the day of his death to the present moment, we have had to do battle against the violence of tribalistic assumptions, the malignancy of insatiable greed, and the prideful delusions of war as the path to our security and well-being.
Dr. King led us by more than mesmerizing oratory. There was a strong faith dynamic and spiritual fortitude undergirding his activism. The vision and values that will prepare our nation for the fulfillment of King’s dream will require a great spiritual awakening.
If we are serious about seeing the dream fulfilled, we must call upon all our faith traditions to offer their wisdom about how we can cultivate a sense of purpose to free us to risk our comforts and conveniences in the pursuit of “the beloved community.”
One sign that change is possible is that the decaying old Marshall St. Bridge has been replaced. The new one is called the Martin Luther King Bridge.
The Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. is Senior Minister of The Riverside Church, New York City
