Building a Dream Into a Beloved Community

The speeches, sermons, and writings of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have impacted my soul, changed my thinking, and challenged my actions. His book Strength to Love, within which I have underlined almost every page in the book, has reformed how I care for my neighbor, how I seek to love my enemies, and it has reminded me of the cruel things done in the name of religion.

King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail is, in my opinion, one of the most prophetic letters ever written; it should even be added to the Christian canon and must be read by every white person in our country, as it is just as relevant today as it was when it was written in April 1963.

And the book The Radical King, edited by Cornel West, chronicles King’s radical doctrine of Christian love by starting with his dream and the movement to make that dream a reality by ending racism, militarism, materialism, and poverty.

This coming Monday, as we celebrate the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, we are fortunate to host a Celebration and Call to Action on campus. At 6:00 p.m. in Snidow Chapel, we will hear students’ personal reflections on MLK’s speeches, listen to King’s favorite hymn and sing Freedom Songs together. We will also have the honor to watch a short sequence from the play, In Remembrance of MLK: From Beyond Vietnam to the Dream, written by our very own Teresa Harris and performed by Desmond Mosby and James Stewart.

The sequence from the play imagines what a conversation between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X might have been like, as both men had diametrically opposed opinions about how to achieve social justice and equity within our country.

It is easy on this day to retweet or share famous quotations from Dr. King on social media, leaving our quest for justice simply online. It takes a lot more effort to live in such a way that builds King’s dream of a Beloved Community and that works for justice and equity for all people. It might seem radical, but it stems from love. I hope you will join us on Monday evening and that our Celebration and Call to Action might be a catalyst for all of us to make King’s dream a reality.