Have you ever watched drum majors?
It is a fascinating experience to watch as they strike up the band, blow their whistles and lead the parade. The drum major sets the pace of the march, signals the cadence for the drummers, and directs the band as it plays and marches.
Martin Luther King characterized his role in history as that of a "drum major." There were many instruments of freedom in the movement that included the Urban League, C.O.R.E., N.A.A.C.P, and Black Panthers, that were playing tunes and warming up. The various players stood ready but there was no single person that could "strike up the band" and get them to march for a single purpose until Dr. King arrived. Refusing to take much credit for his actions in his last words to America he said, "If any of you are around when I meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. I'd like somebody to say that Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to give his life serving others...yes if you want say that I was a drum major, say I was a drum major for justice..peace..righteousness." As a drum major, Dr. King pricked the conscious of America and challenged the dormant players of our ethnic leadership to take an active and even dangerous step toward breaking down the barriers of hatred in America.
As America salutes the memory of this great man, we who knew him must resist the attempts to tame his image by glorifying him as a mystic dreamer, a godlike hero image to be worshipped and idolized while the sacred principles for which he lived and died are continuously desecrated. By focusing the emphasis on Dr. King as a futuristic dreamer rather than as an activist that stirred the world to take action against racism, poverty, and war, the established powers have sterilized his legacy and made it safe for public consumption. If the focus remains on the abstract nature of the dream, then less emphasis will be placed upon the activism that was necessary in King's time and is needed now to fulfill the dream's demands.
As Christians, we understand the role of prophets of God. We know that each was raised by God to respond to the crises of the hour. Each was empowered by the Spirit of the Lord to lead the march for freedom and justice in their generation.
While Dr. King was a great man, we do not elevate him to a godly statue, we give thanks to God for using him to help facilitate the blessing of increased liberty for all.
When Nebuchadnezzar called Daniel into is throne room he told him he had a problem. It seemed that Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian King, had had a dream but he could not understand what it meant. He called upon Daniel to tell him the meaning of the dream. Daniel may have told him in these words `well king you started with a pretty dream that turned into a nightmare.
` You dreamed you saw a mighty tree whose branches expanded wide, the birds nested among its branches; its fruits fed the hungry of the land. You dreamed you saw a mighty, grand and glorious tree. But you heard a voice from Heaven saying cut the tree down...that`s when your dream turned into a nightmare.
It means that right now your kingdom is large and has grown strong, but God is going to cut you down.
If Black America is to survive we must return to the old land mark.
We must work to strengthen the fabric of our families.
Share and reflect together, engage and family building projects and activities, develop respect for our elders and our roots... We must rekindled to the fires of our ancestors, grandmothers and fathers.
We must awaken the sleeping consciousness of our people to remind them that there`s proud and rich heritage.
We must foster, image building activities among our youth, image reinforcing activities among adults, and constantly remind every woman and child whose heritage comes from the shores of Africa that while association and cooperation with those outside of our race is necessary, assimilation is not and usually means annihilation.
We must keep the fire of faith burning ever brightly.
We must remind our children that we have come over a stony and mountainous road.
We have come through many valleys and survived the wintery snows of despair...only by the will God.
We must keep in front of them the way of forefathers.
We must keep, the old hymn, the old prayers,
We must keep on singing `A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify.`Our song must forever be:
`God of weary years, God of our silent tears, though who has brought us thus far along the way.
Though who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us in the path we pray.
Lest our feet stray for the place where our God we met thee
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world we forget thee, shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand true to our God true to our native land.!
Sincerely,
