Dr. Martin Luther King's enduring wordsWestminster Eagle
01/18/08 By Kevin E. Dayhoff
American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., wrote in a book, "Strength to Love," published in 1963:
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. ..."
Those words are as enduring today as when written 45 years ago.
The year 1963 was a long time ago and we, as a society, have come along way toward social justice since the days of legally-sanctioned segregation.
And yet we must be constantly vigilant, as new challenges are always on the horizon.
This is especially true today as our nation continues to wallow in a political tar pit like some bellowing mastodon with a hangover. It seems these days that all issues of community, race relations, the environment and public policy quickly deteriorate into a "red versus blue" coarsening of dialogue promoted by a lack of humanity and the intellectually challenged.
Here's a well-kept secret for you -- the red versus blue thing isn't real, except as promoted by pundits and cable television stations that wish to have their way with you.
Leadership is about bringing folks together -- not promoting division.
We could use a few national leaders like Dr. King these days and it's only appropriate that we set aside time every year to attempt to reacquaint ourselves with the practice of solving our problems by cultivating nonviolence and compassion.
Because I haven't taken enough abuse recently, I'll venture to share my view that the recent discussion about Taneytown not being a "Sanctuary City" would be boring if it didn't give us a massive headache.
Please re-read the first two paragraphs.
The resolution of Taneytown is a stick in the eye for those of us who are trying to promote Carroll County as a welcoming community and family-friendly place to live and prosper.
It does little, if nothing, to address the problems of illegal immigration.
The societal and economic cost of illegal immigration is certainly a fair discussion. I mean, what part of illegal is not understood?
Nevertheless, the overall solution needs to occur in Congress, a body politic that, unfortunately, gives new meaning to "pathological dysfunctia."
Furthermore, the resolution coming at a time of the year when we celebrate Dr. King could not be more ironic.
Take a memo: xenophobia as an approach to solving complicated immigration problems is interesting in the way a septic truck running off the road, through your front flower bed and ending up on your front porch is interesting.
The resulting rhetoric, gnashing of teeth and collective hand-wringing only promotes myths and misinformation that distort meaningful debate and mute the questions that demand carefully thought-out solutions.
At this point, the only "sanctuary" I'm interested in is a sanctuary from stories like this one that will only go down as indictments of community leaders who have spent years offering solutions in search of a problem in an attempt to gain political advantage by populism.
This year we commemorate the life and work of Dr. King on Jan. 21, but he was born in Atlanta on Jan. 15, 1929.
Much of our community will come together to celebrate him this Saturday when the Carroll County NAACP will hold the fifth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast at Martin's Westminster at 8 a.m. (If you'd like to go, call the NAACP office at 410-751-7667.)
Meanwhile, what I really wanted to write about is a persistent and perennial question from many young readers and new folks in our community:
"Who was Robert Moton?"
If you have any memories about the old Robert Moton School in Carroll County, please share them with me, so that I may include them in a future column.
Considering how angry and passionate folks are about the sanctuary city discussion, my next column may very well be written from an undisclosed location.
Hopefully it is a place that serves grits and has a good stereo system so that I can play Led Zeppelin's remake of Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie's "When the Levee Breaks."
Anybody know what that song has to do with Robert Moton?
Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at kdayhoff@carr.org.
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