University of Massachusetts Boston - Beacon Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Honoring a King This past Ianuary 20th, 1986, marks the first day this country will have celebrated the life of Dr. Martin Lu- ther King Ir. as a national holiday. By actnof Congress, duly signed by President Reagan, his birthday will be celebrated on the third Monday of this and every succeeding Ianuary. King was a champion for freedom and justice for all people, a man who lived to combat the violent evils of social injustice without the use of violence himself. Al- though he never held or sought public office, King shaped and ,made more political change than any politician or private citizen of our era. On April 4, 1968, the man who had the courage to love and inspire all peo- ple to join hands as a nation was slain on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. King was the beacon of the civil rights movement, with his Doctrine of Non-Violent Social Change, he confronted segregation, exposing the violent opposition on national television with boycotts, sit-ins, and freedom marches. ln Birmingham, we made a frontal attack upon the segregation and oppression of Negroes in Alabama, said King. There, before the unbelieving eyes of mil- lions of television viewers, and in the front pages of newspapers, we exposed the evils of bigotry in all its vi- ciousness. The Birmingham police had used firehoses and attack dogs on freedom marching families of men, women and children. National newspapers published pictures of these horrifying events. King believed this was a turning point in the drive for Civil Rights because it was now no longer possible for 'people of conscience to ignore the desperation of their plea. I have no fears about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, King said, even if our motives are presently misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned as though we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America . . . We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands. Our history, said King of Black Americans, is bound up with the history of America. We built homes and houses for our masters and suffered injustice and hu- miliation, but out of a bottomless pit vitality continued to live and grow. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not extinguish our existence, the opposition we now face will surely fail. Perhaps we can use some of the ideals of perseverance, love and brotherhood taught to us by Martin Luther King, Ir. Perhaps as we go forth in our own lives we'll remember the pain and injustice suffered by our mothers and fathers of all origins so that we, as an extension of them, can appreciate the freedoms that they sacrificed so much for. Maybe we will start to think of ourselves as brothers and sisters, as Dr. King dreamed, when hearing the National anthem at a Red Sox game or discussing apartheid in South Africa. If we are to continue to grow and truly be the nation we were intended to be, we must find it in our hearts to teach our children the value and power of life. For we are the children that Dr. King spoke of when he addressed 250,000 people in Washington in 1963: I have a dream . . . that one day little black boys and black girls will be able to join with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers . . . This will be the day, when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning 'My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrims' pride, from every mountain side let freedom ringl' It is to the loving memory and spirit of Dr. Martin Lu- ther King Ir. that we, the staff of The BEACON 1986, dedi- Managing Ed cate this book.

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The Fir t Day, pt. 1985 ' r X r - Photos by Mark Iarret Chavous Er, -llf can-..-.- fgf' ' ' I- J., . .1 . I f z 1. gf 'S In