I’ve been thinking all day about MLK and how he’s become kind of a pop hero.  History tells us that he was not appreciated and supported during his lifetime. He wasn’t the voice of popular opinion like I grew up thinking he was. His “I have a dream speech” which everyone loves now, was radical, revolutionary, and directly challenged the culture and power of the day.

I’ve done some reading today and read how a lot of “decent folk” wished he’d stop his protests and let the system handle bringing justice. The tension and conflict, non-violent as it was, made them uncomfortable. MLK reminds us that the system kept his brothers and sisters from getting jobs, being educated, living in peace, and much more. It wasn’t a handful of evil people but systematized evil, that oppressed people of color.

Yes, there was hate for MLK and others, but history seems to show that the greater force was people’s love and trust for the system and powers of the world that MLK was challenging.  As someone who grew up thinking that if you just do the right thing, then you won’t find yourself in trouble, the idea that power isn’t objective, neutral, or fair, was hard to accept.

I too probably would have encouraged MLK to stop the protests, quit stirring up trouble, and let the system do its job. Because his protests were trying to reveal a reality that I didn’t want to accept;  power structures are biased; systems generally favor those who create them, control them, and guard them.  This is not a reality that makes me comfortable, nor do I want to embrace it.

But to ignore the reality that MLK was showing us required that we ignored the pain, the struggles, and the stories of our neighbors. We’d have to deny that their pain exists; we’d have to justify their suffering as something they deserve. And this thing happens all the time. For generations people of color were barred from being a part of “mainstream society “ and then suddenly after a few laws are put in place to ensure their right to these benefits, they get blamed for not being a part of “mainstream society.”  As if it was their choice to develop separate traditions, cultures, and positions in society all along.

And I’m guilty of this attitude. Mostly due to ignorance and youthful naivety, but guilty none the less. “They” drop out of school or “they” don’t work hard to get the good jobs. I couldn’t in my youthful imagination dream of systems and power structures that created different conditions than the one I had or my parents had.

And so we tell MLK to go sit down. Go preach to your own people about being better citizens. Come to us in the proper approved channels that don’t upset the status quo, that doesn’t cause me to question the systems that are doing fine by me.

And so on this day of remembering King’s legacy, we need to be reminded again that his dream wasn’t about white kids and black kids being friends on a playground. His dream was a society built upon a love for fellow men and women. And not just as individuals but the systems and power structures as well.

As a Christian, I can only think of one such power that has its foundation as love for the other: The kingdom of God. As believers, we know that anything short of the kingdom is flawed. This is why we need the kingdom in the first place. So when given the choice between listening to a neighbor’s tale of oppression or putting our trust in power structures, MLK reminds us of the uncomfortable reality that the system is not perfect, that the powers that be are not objective, and therefore, we should listen fully to our neighbors from a position of love.

King was not expressing some abstract ideal, but rather calling us all to action in challenging and correcting the brokenness in the world, to confronting powers that oppress people, and to identifying in ourselves our dependence and implicit trust in these flawed systems.

Let us not reduce this brave work that cost King his life into some feel-good fairytale with a few good sound bites. The Bible tells us that the kingdoms of this world will be replaced by God’s kingdom. This is not a natural progression but a radical shift that replaces one power system with a completely separate one; replacing one kingdom with another kingdom.  May MLK always show us how to be people who usher in the kingdom by speaking truth in love for the benefit of all.

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