Still Working for Peace

World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built.

– Martin Luther King, Jr. December 1964

August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Today, there is a memorial on the National Mall. Today there is a memorial to both Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, along Martin Luther King Drive in Allentown. Both memorials were dedicated last Sunday, the 38^th anniversary of Dr. King’s “Dream” speech. Yet inequalities remain in this country and around the world. As the world erupts to overthrow dictators, long entrenched in their countries, we must find that we are not merely changing dictators or oppressors but truly bringing about a new system of peace. As segregation becomes masked within the isolation of neighborhoods and the economic limitations in employment opportunities, we must not believe that it has been eradicated. Speaking of injustice in whispers does not quiet the passion of those who would shake the very timbers of its structures. Dr. King did not believe we needed violence to bring down the walls of oppression. 

I spoke to Mrs. Esther Lee, president of the Bethlehem NAACP, at the Bethlehem YWCA Annual meeting dinner recently. She said she wanted to bring some changes to the MLK celebration. “It’s not a black holiday,” she said. “It’s a National holiday," I finished. 

Oppression is not an issue for the oppressed, it is an issue for us all. Racism is one of the characteristics we select for separation, for designations of dominance and oppression. Gender is another characteristic. Religion and ethnicity are characteristics we associate with the upcoming anniversary of the terrorists’ attacks on September 11^th. Peace is a place of equality, a level playing field without dominance or oppression. To end racism and other inequalities we must work for peace for all. We must erase the ideas that any characteristic is allowed dominance at the expense of the oppression of others. To find a level field we must overcome our fear and begin to understand our brothers and sisters as human beings with different ideas and beliefs and appearance but the same souls that laugh and cry and long and dream. Are we ready to truly honor Dr. King’s dream and to work towards a world of peace and equality? 

Can we be the “voice of reason, sanity and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred and emotion?” If we cannot, then who will be?