Today we remember a man who stood for racial equality worldwide. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. should be acknowledged and recognized by all nationalities. He deeply influenced the entire world through his words and actions. He was a natural public speaker and, in my opinion, gifted by our Lord. When he spoke, people listened. He was not about hating people but about loving people. Simply put, he wanted everyone to be treated equally. Should that not be something we all desire?
Dr. King did exceptional work, and he was a born leader who influenced the justice system of our country. He was a gifted pastor of his church for seven years in the 1950’s, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. He went on to become the greatest civil rights activist known. King believed non-violent protests were the way to approach and react to evil and wrongdoing. I believe he would never approve of the violent protests we see today. I think of Dr. King as a peaceable man who did his best to convince the world that God created all of us in His image.
This was a man who won the Nobel Peace Prize at 35 years of age, quite the accomplishment for a young preacher. Martin was taken from us at 39 in Tennessee where he was supporting a peaceful protest about quality for black sanitation workers. He was shot a killed on a hotel balcony in Memphis on April 4th1968. He wanted to be remembered as a man who served others. I would like to be remembered like that too, but I fall way short compared to MLK.
I will always wonder how much further and faster his cause could have gone had he lived a full lifetime. I can think of no other man besides Jesus, that would have made a greater impact on racial equality than Mr. King did. He wanted what was right to happen to people in the world. Even though we are still a long way from where we need to be as a country concerning racial equality, Dr. King played a crucial role in his part of seeing it come to pass someday. Had it not been for him, I am not sure how many changes would have been made. He stood up as we all should anytime we see something happen that is not just.
In closing, as a school bus driver in 2024, I still hear the n-word from some students. I quickly scold them and write them up for a racial slur and they get a stern talking to at the school about what is never acceptable language today. They can lose their bus-riding privileges if they do it again. In my opinion, that is a word that should never be spoken from anyone’s mouth, ever again regardless of skin color. I told my bus riders one day, “Ifwe got off the bus right now and stood beside each other in a line every one of us would have a different skin color. Don’t you ever discount anyone simply because they have a different color of skin! What matters is your heart, what is on the inside, who you are, your character.”
May God bless each of you and keep you safe in your travels this week.
Jim Everett
