La revolución de Martin Luther King

Con nombre de hereje y apellido de rey, este hombre luchó por la dignidad humana, y en especial por los que sufren del racismo. Y ganó, por eso hoy se le recuerda. Su legado no solo fue para Estados Unidos, sino para toda la humanidad, y en otros movimientos sociales como el feminismo y la liberación lésbicogay. En honor a él bien vale leer su sermón que presentó en la Catedral Nacional en Washington D.C. sobre la revolución de dignidad que aún hoy camina, a pesar de muchos poderosos. Ojalá Benedicto XVI pudiera leer este sermón y dejar de atacar a las mujeres por querer servir como sacerdotes y a quienes no son heterosexuales por querer casarse. Amar a Dios y amar a su pareja forma parte de la dignidad humana que defendía King. Sólo que algunos defienden la dignidad a su conveniencia, como si todos los seres humanos fueramos hechos con el mismo molde de galleta. Lo que olvidan es que la masa es la misma.

"I am sure that most of you have read that arresting little story from the pen of Washington Irving, entitled 'Rip Van Winkle.' The one thing that we usually remember about the story is that Rip Van Winkle slept twenty years. But there is another point ... that is almost completely overlooked. It was the sign in the end, from which Rip went up in to the mountain for his long sleep. When Rip Van Winkle went up into the mountain, the sign has a picture of King George III of England. When he came down twenty years later, the sign had a picture of George Washington, the first president of the United States ... The most striking thing about the story of Rip Van Winkle is not merely that Rip slept twenty years, but that he slept through a revolution ...

There can be no gainsaying of the fact that a great revolution is taking place in the world today. In a sense it is a triple revolution: that is a technological revolution, with the impact of automation and cybernation; then there is a revolution in weaponry, with the emergence of atomic and nuclear weapons of warfare. Then there is a human rights revolution, with the freedom explosion that is taking place all over the world. Yes, we do live in a period where changes are taking place and there is still the voice crying through the vista of time saying, 'Behold, I make all things new, former things are passed by'...

"God grant that we will be participants in this newness and this magnificent development. If we will but do it, we will bring about a new day of justice and brotherhood and peace. And that day the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy," -

Martin Luther King Jr., sermón del Domingo de Pascua (Mar. 31, 1968). (fuente: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.).

Scott Horton medita sobre su significado hoy en día.

(Photo: National Archives and Records Administration.)