Dr. Martin Luther King's Legacy

Code Pink has a short Flash presentation linked in the title above on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- and it concerns his words of peace, words cautioning the United States about our war policies. Today's policies are similar to those of King's time, when he spoke out so eloquently against the Vietnam War. It is thought it was that nonviolent activism that got him killed, not his work for racial equality. View this excellent slide show -- good food for thought on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

Another good site for learning more about King and his work for peace, complete with some great quotations, and an excerpt from his last book, based on his Nobel Peace Prize speech is The World House. As the site says, "He identified racism, poverty/ materialism, and war as the three major threats to human survival." The work at hand is to build community, a world house where people take care of each other, not starve them or bomb them into nonexistence, because the choice really is between chaos and community. We can't be redressing poverty and racism when we are spending all of our resources in funding the military-industrial complex. Both the Code Pink presentation and the World House site quote King in reminding us, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Take time this weekend (or soon) to read King's World House essay. And remember King by speaking out for peace and justice -- economic and social justice, not just the letter of the law. And don't just talk about it, do something in King's memory to better the world. Please and thank you.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne