The Black Messiah of Latter-Day Fame

No, that's not really meant to be cute. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was a messiah for his people, leading them out of misery and into the holy land of equality. All that suffering that went before, when his people were wrenched out of their native lands and placed into oceanic coffins to carry whatever balance of them managed to survive the living ordeal to another geography where they would eke out their natural lives as slaves was finally addressed.

Addressed in a manner that no one else had managed to achieve, unequivocally, with the triumph of justice and reason behind that voice of lyrically-blessed oratory. His conviction of righteousness in the just cause of release of his people from the bondage of racial inequality brought to his cause other citizens who, although not themselves black, were outraged at their society's treatment of their black population.

American Blacks had their champions long before the advent of Dr. King's mission, but none had the impact that he had on his peoples' current history. His voice vibrating with the passion of his mission, with the conviction of his fight for justice, he invoked fairness in the American way of life and brought courage to the hearts of the unprivileged, the societally degraded, the downtrodden coloured population of his time and place.

When I lived in Atlanta, visited the Ebenezer Baptist Church and the King Centre, I felt a glow, a comfort in knowing that injustice was addressed. There was a frightening arduous and difficult but victorious campaign, and the law of the land was altered to reflect the fact that equality and justice had to be reflected within the entire population of that country. I've never been a hero-worshipper and never will be, but this man's battle for his people was an outstanding example of how selfless dedication can challenge the most intractable injustice and win.

He sought not to divide society, but to consolidate public opinion behind a just and timely cause. After his death there were others who rose to national prominence, but their mission hardly reflected the honesty of his. The Reverend Jesse Jackson was too fond of public adulation and attention directed toward him personally, something that Dr. King never wanted, never sought; it was his sacred mission that was uppermost in his thoughts and that directed his actions, not the reflected glory upon his personhood.

As for the Reverend Al Sharpton, Dr. King would hardly give him the time of day, recognizing him for the charlatan that he is, a manipulator of people, an unabashed celebrity-seeker, a disturbing bigot of the first water of his own accord. Sharpton represents a travesty of a mission, the dark counterpart of Dr. King's passion for justice. Dr. King never searched within the faulted society upon whom he could hang a necktie of guilt, he only sought justice.

His depth of commitment to his people, his compelling, transfixing oratory on behalf of the total alleviation of his peoples' intolerable plight was his cause. Not the self-aggrandizement that we see on the part of those who have stepped forward into the light to identify perceived oppressors and produce a show of thundering condemnation, deliberately distancing black and white, re-creating the ghetto.

The appearance upon this earth of genuine messiahs is exceedingly rare. They are justly celebrated for the enlightenment they bring to the vast numbers of ordinary people unable on their own to identify right from wrong.