Beyond The Pulpit Ministries

At a recent Black History celebration, I had the privilege of hearing for the first time, the Rev. Dr. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Civil Rights icon, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This would be the third King family member I’ve had the privilege of listening to live, having interviewed Mrs. Coretta Scott King when I was a journalism student in Chicago; and a few years after that, I heard Martin King, III tell a suburban Chicago audience that economic prosperity for Blacks was that era’s next civil rights struggle.

And just weeks ago, the youngest Rev. Dr. King, who was only five years old when her father was assassinated, was speaking on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio, and telling a young audience that there is more they can and should do to bring about social change for their generation. 

It was surreal that Dr. King, would be speaking on the same campus where in 1970 the Ohio National Guard killed four young people who were protesting for change during the Vietnam War.  Still, her remarks offered a special message for today’s youth who are concerned about social change.

“I believe when students rise up, things shift,” she said to an audience filled with Kent State students among others.  “There’s going to be a period of time where we have to deal with a lot of ignorance. That’s why you all have to keep showing up. Don’t check out.

“Y’all have to vote and participate and hold these people accountable,” she said to rousing applause. “We’re in a season of sacrifice if we really want to see change.”

Dr. King explained that young people have historically been on the frontline of successful movements for social justice.  Alabama Sheriff Bull Connor turned on his firehoses and sic’d his dogs on young people during the Civil Right protests of the 1960s – the television images of which changed America’s perspective on the fight for Black freedoms.

“They can’t lock up all our children,” King said. “They tried that in Birmingham and it didn’t work.  Young people, you have a power and a strength that you’ve got to think about: Are you willing to pay the same price as your ancestors paid.”

“They put those water hoses on those young people in Birmingham,” ‘she said. “It was horrible when they first did that.  But the second time when they tried to do that, the police officers didn’t know what to do.  Those marchers got on their knees, and they started praying.

“The prayer wasn’t about change (the oppressors); the prayer was for (the young people) to be able to stand in the strength and the courage to march forward in spite of what they were facing.  The prayer was about ‘give me what I need.’

“All of a sudden the hoses went left,” she said.  “The police officers and firemen couldn’t do anything; they were paralyzed in that moment. Nonviolence is so powerful.”

King explained that today’s young people need to discover just how much power they have.  She reminisced about the Parkland, FL shooting five years ago, after which students from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and thousands of others marched on Washington in support of gun safety reform.

“Those young people organized and mobilized,” she said. “I went to D.C. because I wanted to see them.  I had never seen such a large gathering of young people in my life, with such passion and zeal.”

But according to Dr. King, the passion of that group subsided without them ever taking full advantage of their potential.

“There was something here, and I kept saying to myself if at least 30 or 35% percent of those young people had refused to go back to school until Congress did something, I think things would have shifted.

“Young people have to persist because we can’t continue to allow the things that are happening in or nation to happen. We’re declining in some ways, (and) you deserve to live in a different kind of world.  If we really want to see change, this momentary marching and protesting when something happens and then dying down, that’s not going to get it.”

King also encouraged young people to seek small victories in addition to confronting the heavier issues of our time.

‘You have to have a strategy and a plan,” she explained. “You can’t just be haphazard about it.  So, I’m saying to this generation: don’t just jump up and march and demonstrate. Extract from that earlier generation the lessons and the philosophy and methodology that can help you.

“There is a call on every generation. It wouldn’t be fair for every previous generation to pay the price for freedom, and your generation to be exempt from paying a price. But we have to capture victories along the way… If we’re going to take on something as big as law enforcement, we need another victory along the way so that people can feel hopeful again.”

Another King with still another dream. This time for another generation.