Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 2009

Open Letter: The Living Memory of The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I marched with you. I heard the piercing truth of the eloquence of your voice in your valiant and irrepressible call for freedom, justice and equality for all in America and throughout the world.        Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Your spirit is still alive. Your dream is being fulfilled. We are still singing 'We Shall Overcome.' We are still marching for justice.          Your legacy of nonviolent civil disobedience in protest to racial, economic, environmental and war-making injustice is still alive and growing globally. The poor and impoverished are organizing and mobilizing all over the world for an improvement in their quality of life.          The suffering, pain, and ultimate sacrifice that you so willingly, unselfishly, compassionately and bravely gave so that others may have a better opportunity to fulfill their God-given potentials will never be forgotten. That is why we celebrate your birthday with joy, remembrance  and humility.             Yet we all should take a moment on this day and everyday to renew our sense of responsibility to our families, communities and to all of humanity. We all should strive to be our brothers and sisters keepers universally.           But beyond our individual and collective memories of the past, Dr. King would not be comfortable with our utter silence and acquiescence in the face of the fact that today bombs, missiles, bullets, and lethal war on innocent women, men and children have become tolerable tenets of mad, angry and insane policies where the ends justify all means where the innocent are just simply made to suffer and die.             Tragically, far too few leaders today have the courage like Dr. King to say, 'No. This is not right in the sight of God.'           I am not preaching. But, I am just remembering who Dr. King really was and why his birthday is so special. That is why I decided to write this open letter--not to offend anybody, but simply to state we all can and should do better to end war, poverty and human hatred.           On Monday, January 19, 2009, the federal holiday observance of Dr. King's birthday will be held across the nation. It is much more than a symbolic coincidence that the very next day, we will witness another historic day in the political, social, economic, and cultural transformation of American society: the Inauguration of Barack Obama to be the 44th President of the United States.            Dr. Martin Luther King Jr would have been very pleased to see this day come to pass. The right to vote, the right to speak and the right to be judged not by the color of ones skin, but by the content on one's character is what both Dr. King and Barack Obama represent.            Some of you know that I see a direct line in the continuity between the Civil Rights Movement's contributions to real change in America and the transformative evolution of hip-hop culture today. But, that's the subject of my upcoming book, 'From Civil Rights to Hip-Hop.'               Suffice it to say now that we are witnessing a rare, but much prayed for and needed, mo