Martin Luther King Jr: Ο άνθρωπος που ράπισε την κοινωνική ανισότητα
Με το σημερινό άρθρο θα ήθελα να
επαναφέρω στη μνήμη των αναγνωστών και να τιμήσω μαζί σας μια από τις
σημαντικότερες προσωπικότητες που σημάδεψαν τον 20ο αιώνα. Μια
προσωπικότητα που με τον διαρκή αγώνα για τα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα έφερε
επανάσταση και έθεσε τις ράγες που πατάμε και πρέπει να ακολουθήσουμε ως το
τέλος για το μακρύ ταξίδι της καταπολέμισης του φυλετικού ρατσισμού και της
ισότητας των ανθρώπων.
Σαν σήμερα λοιπόν (15/01/1929) γεννήθηκε
στην πολιτεία της Georgia (Atlanta) των Η.Π.Α ο Martin Luther King
Jr. Υιός ιερέα και δασκάλας, από τα πρώτα του παιδικά χρόνια είχε να
θυμάται τα ρατσιστικά σχόλια των λευκών γειτόνων και συμμαθητών του. Όμως και
μεγαλώνοντας, όταν χρειάστηκε να εργαστεί ήταν φανερή η διαφορετική
αντιμετώπιση των μαύρων εργαζομένων από τους λευκούς. Ολοκλήρωσε τις σπουδές
του ως διδάκτωρ θεολογία με σκοπό να διδάξει δημοσίως για την ισότητα των
ανθρώπων. Εργάστηκε ως πάστορας σε εκκλησία Βαπτιστών και έδινε καθημερινές
μάχες για την απόκτηση κοινωνικών και πολιτικών δικαιωμάτων από τους μαύρους. Άφησε
το στίγμα του στην παγκόσμια ιστορία όταν στην Πορεία της Washington (1963)
εκφώνησε το λόγο του "I have a
dream" (έχω ένα όνειρο) όπου περιέγραφε πως θα ήθελε να είναι οι
ανθρώπινες κοινωνίες, κοινωνίες χωρίς διακρίσεις. Τον Οκτώβρη του 1964 στο Όσλο
της Νορβηγίας του απονέμεται το Νόμπελ Ειρήνης. Το οικονομικό ποσό που συνόδευε
το βραβείο το μοίρασε σε διάφορα κινήματα για την προάσπιση των ανθρώπινων
δικαιωμάτων. Στις 4 Απριλίου 1968 και ενώ σχεδίαζε ακόμα μια πορεία, την
«Πορεία των Φτωχών», δολοφονήθηκε στην πολιτεία του Tennessee (Memphis). Μετά
το θάνατό του έλαβε σωρεία διακρίσεων όπως το Προεδρικό Μετάλλειο για την
Ελευθερία, το Χρυσό Μετάλλιο του Κογκρέσσου κ.α. Από το 1986 η 15η Ιανουαρίου
(ημέρα της γέννησής του) έχει ανακυρηχθεί ως επίσημη εορτή στις Η.Π.Α.
Παραθέτω τον ιστορικό λόγο που εκφώνησε
στην Πορεία της Washington
(1963) "I
have
a
dream" (έχω ένα όνειρο) αυτοτελή όπως
επισηνάπτεται στο American Rhetoric Speeches
στην αγγλική γλώσσα. Σκέφτηκα πως αν μπω στη διαδικασία να τον μεταφράσω θα τον
αλιώσω, θα τον χαλάσω, κάτι θα χάσει. Για αυτό και τον παρουσιάζω ως έχει:
“I am happy to join with you today in what will
go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of
our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American,
in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light
of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of
withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of
their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not
free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by
the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years
later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast
ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still
languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his
own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash
a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the
Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every
American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men
as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of
"Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this
promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of
honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people
a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is
bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great
vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a
check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of
justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America
of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of
cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to
make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and
desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the
time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid
rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's
children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the
urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate
discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and
equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who
hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have
a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be
neither rest nor tranquility in America
until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt
will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of
justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people,
who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the
process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of
bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane
of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate
into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights
of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the
Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of
our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to
realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to
realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always
march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil
rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as
long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of
travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the
cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is
from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our
children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs
stating: "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a
Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro
in New York
believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we
will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness
like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out
of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail
cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for
freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the
winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering.
Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back
to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to
Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern
cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to
you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today
and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American
dream.
I
have a dream
that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its
creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal."
I
have a dream
that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the
sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of
brotherhood.
I
have a dream
that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of
injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an
oasis of freedom and justice.
I
have a dream
that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not
be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I
have a dream today!
I
have a dream
that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor
having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and
"nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys
and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white
girls as sisters and brothers.
I
have a dream today!
I
have a dream
that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall
be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will
be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all
flesh shall see it together".
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back
to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the
mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to
transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of
brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray
together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom
together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- 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 Pilgrim's pride.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must
become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops
of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New
York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of
Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of
Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of
California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of
Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring,
when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and
every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's
children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro
spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Δεπάστας Χαράλαμπος
Κοινωνικός Λειτουργός
MSc "Επαγγελματικής και Περιβαλλοντικής Υγείας -
Διαχείρισης και Οικονομικής Αποτίμησης"
Κοινωνικός Λειτουργός
MSc "Επαγγελματικής και Περιβαλλοντικής Υγείας -
Διαχείρισης και Οικονομικής Αποτίμησης"
Επικοινωνία: anisihesmeres@gmail.com
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