Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. – this is the name recognized nationwide as a name synonymous with peace, love, and acceptance. Acceptance of a color-blind nation; a nation of servitude, a nation of forgiveness. Dr. King believed in equality, but he also believed in the power of grace and love. 

His efforts have created a standard of respectability and fortitude unmatched by any in his generation. He paved the way for the inclusion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which made it illegal to hold segregated places of business, and also banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed largely due to his efforts of non-violence. This removed the barriers that effectively prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote. 

Dr. King’s devotion to peaceful resistance and servitude has created the precedent for change. A change that today gives people the ability to stand up for themselves in a way that leads us forward, rather than backwards; allowing change without hate, equality without bitterness, and justice without discrimination. 

These efforts established Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a National Day of Service in 1994. The idea of “civil disobedience” and “peaceful resistance” urged participants to disobey unjust laws based on their violation of unalienable rights. However, to Dr. King, disobedience and violence were mutually exclusive. To resist injustice through non-violent means has brought great progress and reconciliation to a once divided people. 

It is through Dr. King’s efforts that today we are ever one step closer to a nation that truly celebrates “justice for all”.