Today is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King

Troy Jackson has a wonderful post up at God's Politics on the memory that today holds:

Friday, April 4, 2008, marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was 39-years-old, yet had already spent 15 years in a grassroots movement that radically reshaped the racial landscape in the U.S. He was not only a great preacher and civil rights leader, a Nobel Peace prize winner, and a courageous voice for peace and justice - King was also a "windchanger."

Rev. Jim Wallis often notes that politicians determine how to vote by placing their fingers in the air to gauge which way the wind is blowing. As part of the civil rights movement, King helped change the wind in the U.S.! Because of the sacrifice and tireless struggle by thousands of civil rights wind changers in the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. became a more just nation.

In his late 20s, King joined grassroots activists in Montgomery to lead a year-long boycott of city buses. He helped launch the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and provided inspirational leadership in Birmingham, Albany, and Selma. He was a windchanger for civil rights.

Great words from Troy - and amazing to look at the last 40 years since King was killed.

Michael Eric Dyson reflects on the impact the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had on American society in his book April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Death and How It Changed America.  Here's an excerpt:

You cannot hear the name Martin Luther King, Jr. and not think of death. You might hear the words “I have a dream,” but they will doubtlessly only serve to underscore an image of a simple motel balcony, a large man made small, a pool of blood.

For as famous as he may have been in life, it is — and was — death that ultimately defined him. Born into a culture whose main solace was Christianity’s Promised Land awaiting them after the suffering of this world, King took on the power of his race’s presumed destiny and found in himself the defiance necessary to spark change.

 

Here is a MLK meditation I did a year ago: