Now is the time.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2006.

Dr. King’s life continues to inspire the work against oppression and toward justice. I still get chills listening to his “I Have a Dream” speech. His vision for racial reconciliation calls for peace over prosperity, love beyond convenience, and personal sacrifice in the name of a higher good.

It has been thirty-seven years since Dr. King’s assassination on April 4, 1968. As we saw during the recent hurricane season, racial disparity still plagues our nation. It is easy to wonder who will take up Dr. King’s mantle with such a long road ahead. Who will advocate for change in his place? Who will inspire citizens of every ethnic background to see how our destinies are tied together?

But we cannot wait for another cultural prophet. Waiting would neglect the challenge that has already been given. Instead, we must strive to be the change that we seek. In doing so, may the words of one of the greatest human rights leaders in history echo with new relevance in our hearts:

This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the summit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children. – Martin Luther King Jr. Washington DC, 1963

………………

The Iron Lady is now the president of the Republic of Liberia. This morning Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became the first female head of state in the history of Africa. Liberia has had a difficult path. I hope this election will mark the advent of a peaceful season in west Africa.