Opinion: What We Have Done with King

What we have Done with King And How We Can Maximize His Core Teachings Today

Dr. Vonnetta L. West, Pastor, Our Neighbor’s House

I believe in Love. What a glorious, galvanizing spirit that lives in and among us, activating and sustaining willing instruments in the holy work of multiplying the God-ideas of truth, empathy, and justice in every area of our everyday being.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. let Love use him for multi-faceted compassionate action, including changing policies and systems that devalue and devastate Black people, and challenge the conscience of a nation waging war at home and abroad. For being a change agent and conscientious objector, he was among the most hated men in America and targeted by the U.S. government for humiliation and assassination.

58 years after Dr. King was assassinated, this nation is in such a struggle with Love that many here evoke the name of Jesus, who was vilified for showing up as Love, to justify bigotry and injustice. Politicians and preachers are among those who quote Dr. King to deter true peace, which does not acquiesce to hate and dehumanization for the sake of order.

Partial evidence of the United States wrestling with Love, and forsaking both Christ the King and Dr. King, is our nation’s firm, self-defeating grip on anti-Black racism. The U.S. is holding on to contempt for Black people so tightly that the current President is espousing rhetoric portraying some African nations as savage and stupid. Legislators are removing books about Ruby Bridges and Rosa Parks while re-erecting statues of sadistic segregationists.

What have we done with King?
He has a federal holiday. Yet the nation of his birth rejects his most holy work of interrogating the conscience of America and engaging in nonviolence to end racism, militarism, and poverty.

What have we done with King?
He is oft quoted, yet his words and teachings have been sanitized to align with passivity and false peace.

What have we done with King?
He is no longer among the most hated men in America, yet the collective citizenry of the United States doesn’t know King well enough to authentically summon hate or love.

It would behoove us today to pay attention to Dr. King’s core teachings. They provide insight and instruction for applying his philosophy and methodology of nonviolence. Contrary to contrived and false notions, Kingian nonviolence is not a weak, cowardly, inactive, or ineffective paradigm of thinking. It is revolutionary and steeped in strategy; it is brilliant and bold in its efforts to conquer injustice without destroying purveyors of injustice. Core Kingian teachings help us understand nonviolence and the roots of violence.

We need to know King’s core teaching of humanity as a network of mutuality, as expressed in his seminal 1963 writing, “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In response to eight Alabama clergymen questioning his presence in Birmingham and accusing him of being an outside agitator, he wrote, “But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here…I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own hometown.”

Dr. King added, “Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

We need to know King’s core teaching of creative maladjustment, as expressed in his 1954 sermon, “Transformed Nonconformist.” His relevant, revelatory words included this passage:

“This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. Our planet teeters on the brink of atomic annihilation; dangerous passions of pride, hatred, and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; truth lies prostrate on the rugged hills of nameless calvaries; and men do reverence before false gods of nationalism and materialism. The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.”

We need to know King’s core teaching of human, humane participation in making a new world, with “the new world” explained in his 1954 speech, “The Vision of a World Made New.”

He shared, “So when John said he saw the new Jerusalem, he was saying in substance that he saw justice conquering injustice, he saw the forces of darkness consumed by the forces of light. Ultimately, history brings into being the new order to blot out the tragic reign of the old order. II. Now, if we will look far enough, we will see the truth of John’s vision being revealed in the contemporary world. Today we stand between two worlds, a world that is gradually passing away and a world that is being born. We stand between the dying old and the emerging new.”

One example of Dr. King expounding on our part in creating this “new world” is his 1965 speech, “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” He admonished the audience at Oberlin College, “Never allow it to be said that you are silent onlookers, detached spectators, but that you are involved participants in the struggle to make justice a reality.”

These three – network of mutuality, creative maladjustment, and human, humane participation in making a new world – are not all of Dr. King’s core teachings. But if we grasp these three, we can start or strengthen our minds, spirits, and capacity to:

• Reject apathy & choose empathetic action (speak when it’s inconvenient; stand with those who are marginalized; refuse neutrality in the face of injustice and inhumanity)
• Engage with nonviolence every day (respond to conflict without dehumanizing others; choose understanding over reaction; interrupt cycles of harm in relationships, homes, workplaces, online, etc)
• Do our part to eradicate the Triple Evils of racism, poverty & militarism (tell the truth about bigotry, hate, and systemic injustice;advocate and act for economic justice; challenge policies that prioritize violence over human need
• Live with Love (love your inner being; seek transformation, not humiliation; seek accountability, not destruction)
• Engage in nonviolent direct action (strategically organize, mobilize, vote, and advocate; employ economic withdrawal; support ethical businesses; apply pressure to unjust systems)
• Use your platform for positive purpose (share what Dr. King called “unarmed truth”; amplify voices of love and justice; commit to not spreading harm or misinformation)

This is not even the totality of how Kingian nonviolence can help us lovingly and courageously re/shape ourselves and society. This is something with which we can do that matters.

I believe in Love. And on behalf of Love and with hope that we can join in good work toward making “of this old world a new world,” I encourage you to spend time with Dr. King’s core teachings, then with authentic Kingian nonviolence.

We don’t have to stay here. Love will co-labor with us to move us up, over, and forward.

This is a guest contribution from Vonnetta L. West

Vonnetta L. West is a pastor, human rights advocate, writer, and convener known for advancing a culture of neighborliness, justice, and nonviolence through initiatives such as the Neighbor Up movement. She is a leading U.S.-based nonviolence trainer, educator, and strategist recognized for her work helping individuals and communities move from division and isolation toward connection, compassion, and collective responsibility. Her work blends faith, social justice, leadership development, and community education. Vonnetta is the principal owner of Go West Consulting and pastor of Our Neighbor’s House.