Today Americans celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights leader who demonstrated the transformative power of non-violent protest. But, in the beginning, he didn't set out to transform American society.
As they new minister in town, King was recruited at age 26 by fellow ministers in Montgomery to lead a small boycott of the local bus lines in December of 1955. It was a little battle in one town, and the protestors faced overwhelming odds. The movement was constantly harrassed and its leaders repeatedly thrown in jail, simply for not riding the city buses.
Then, people outside Montgomery - across the south, in the North, and even around the world - got wind of the protest. International journalists descended on Montgomery, and New Yorkers held a benefit fundraiser in Madison Square Garden to cover bail money. It took a year, but in the end, the boycotters won, and Montgomery bus lines were desegregated.
In the next decade, still in the face of overwhleming odds - including church bombings, lynchings, and violent demonstrations - the civil rights struggle grew into a national movement. In 1963, a quarter of a million people marched on Washington. In 1965, the Civil Rights Act was signed by the president. All were unimaginable just a few years earlier.
King only visited the Middle East briefly in 1959. In the few speeches and writing where he addressed the region he held out hope for "progressive Arab forces" and noted that "some Arab feudal rulers... neglect the plight of their own people." He added: "The Arab world is in a state of imposed poverty and backwardness that must threaten peace and harmony."
Today, the Middle East awaits its Martin Luther King, Jr. In the meantime, the region's despots need to be held accountable. And the region's few, brave civil rights activists need our support. Because we know what happens to a dream deferred. It can explode - in a blast of destruction or a burst of freedom.
UPDATE: King's birthday today is being marked with a protest outside the Sudan Mission to the UN in New York. A Sudanese survivor of slavery and American students are coming together to send a message to the Sudanese regime. Learn how you can help here.
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