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[ Back to index of February articles ] Carrying King's dream
into the future
On March 31, 1968, four days before his death, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final Sunday sermon from the pulpit of Washington National Cathedral. Almost 36 years later, King’s biographer Stewart Burns stood in the same spot and recounted his sermon that day at “Visions of the Future: Defeating Youth Violence,” a program celebrating King’s life and dream. “It was Passion Sunday - two weeks before Easter,” Burns said. “He was a passionate man, and he urged his listeners - sitting right where you are now - not to be passive.” King was in Washington, D.C. to launch what was to be his final campaign: the Poor People’s Campaign for Economic Justice. In his sermon that day, he told the congregation that without income, a man didn’t have life, liberty or the possibility to pursue happiness - he merely existed. Throughout his life, King advocated non-violence as a means to move humanity forward. “For him, non-violent action was the opposite of passive,” Burns said. “It was the most powerful human force.” King was convinced, Burns said, that “soul force” - assertive, non-violent action - was more effective than violence in the long term. “Non-violent action did not leave the bitterness behind to haunt the future generations,” he said. “Dr. King believed that non-violence, or soul force, was the synthesis of justice and compassion. Soul force required the faith of religion and moral passion.” Burns urged those present to continue to fight for economic justice and thereby realize King’s last, unfulfilled dream. “Let us carry this forward, as King is no longer with us,” he said. After a musical presentation by the Diocesan Youth Choir and two dance performances by the Duke Ellington Dance Ensemble, former Redskin George Starke, Jr., spoke of his efforts to bring education and employment opportunities to at-risk youth in the District of Columbia. Starke, director of the Excel Institute in Washington, D.C. and chairman of the D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys, ran a successful car dealership after retiring from football. “In D.C., car theft is off the map,” he said, pointing out that while auto theft was high, there was no incentive beyond joy riding for the teenagers who stole cars. “A percentage of those people must realize that’s not going to work,” he said. “But what are they going to do to get out of it?” At the same time, he noticed another problem - a shortage of good mechanics. “In the car business, the most difficult thing is not selling cars,” he said. “What makes your dealership most economically viable is the service department.” One day, Starke had an epiphany. He decided to train potential car thieves to become car mechanics. Using his own money, he started a school, enrolling 15 youth fresh out of jail in his first class. Since then, he has trained 200 students. Things are not easy for the students, who have to move backward to catch up on the education they missed and forward to learn sophisticated new technology at the same time, he said. But he believes that it’s never too late to learn. “The good news is Washington has a lot of young people who are budding rocket scientists,” he said. And King’s dream of economic justice is still in motion. Contact Lucy Chumbley at lchumbley@edow.org [ Back to index of February articles ]
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