Dr. King’s orations challenged our society to achieve peace and equality through nonviolent means. He is an inspiration across generations and continents, and his accomplishments were the subject of some of our lunch and dinner discussions while in Zambia.
The Memorial’s Vision Statement also mentions how the movement calls upon America to realize its potential in the arenas of freedom, opportunity, and justice. This series will address how the Periclean program captures each of these and works to broaden this vision across the globe.
Freedom is a central tenet in successful democratic societies. Citizens are not trapped by unjust constraints and able to exercise all human capabilities and liberties in a truly free society. Dr. King’s vision sought to bring freedom to all peoples, in particular African Americans who had struggled under the Jim Crow laws and bigotry by other races.
To obtain true freedom, a shackled society must see all of its members make great sacrifices. This seems counter to what individuals would want, but I feel that it is the selfish attitudes of all that make freedom so difficult to obtain.
One of the most difficult forces to overcome is that of racial pride. All humans belong to a different racial group based on luck of the draw through birth. Through societal constructs, these races (or blends of races) have tied us down through the force of pride. Identifying oneself in a group to the exclusion of others is an excellent way to weaken our ties as global citizens.
When people have too much racial pride, they elevate themselves above other groups to the detriment of society. When white people in Germany elevated the Aryan race above others, they sparked the Holocaust. When neighborhoods are formed based on race, enclaves lash out at those not perceived to be their “own” and race riots ensue. When bachelors and bachelorettes only elect to date people of one race, they place a wedge between themselves and suitors who may very well have more compatible life values than others in their own race. While those who are proud of their race might feel great about belonging to a certain group, they should be warned that there is no such thing as a separate peace; with each group that clamors with pride, others cringe in shame.
Over the course of history, the opposite of racial pride has indeed shown its ugly head. In the United States, we had the Jim Crow laws. In South Africa, there was apartheid. All across the world, candidates are passed over for job opportunities because they were not born into a certain group, and they feel shame for the inability to overcome something so disconnected to their talents. Racial pride depends on the misfortune or diminishment of another, a force that has polarized societies today - a force that King worked so tirelessly to overcome.
How has the Periclean program helped to make me free? The Periclean program has shown me the possibility of racial contentment. While in Zambia in January 2009, one of my peers described a moment where he explained to a young boy that the incoming President of the United States, Barack Obama, had the same color of skin that he did. This young boy had never seen a picture of Obama and did not understand why everyone was so excited about his inauguration. Upon realizing that Obama was like him, and that someone that looked just like him could be President of the United States, he wore a huge grin. He was not ashamed. Yet, though I could not read his mind, I do not think that he was proud. He was simply glad that the way he was was good enough.
As we watched the Obama inauguration on January 20, 2009, beginning at 5 p.m. local time in Zambia, we knew that race was no longer an excluding factor in seeking the highest office of the most powerful nation in the world. Being black could no longer be seen as a source of shame. Race became a point of contentment: the (racist) pride of whites in holding the highest office for so long, and the (racist) shame of blacks in believing that no matter how hard they worked, they would never achieve it, vanished. Race just is, like eye color or finger length or the type of belly button you have. Americans swelled up with this realization, and Africans (with the fresh memories of apartheid) beamed at the leveling of this playing field.
Race is not a cause for celebration. Race is not an excuse. Race is something that is decided before you are born, and it should not be judged above the content of a person’s character. This is the message that Martin Luther King, Jr., would want us to believe, and it is the message that the Pericleans bring to their partners and all they touch.
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