The 1954 Supreme Court’s decision in the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, opened the door to the Civil Rights Act signed by Lyndon B. Johnson in April of 1968.

Martin Luther King Jr. is credited, and rightfully so, as the driving force in the battle for Civil Rights.  He was motivated by the action of Mrs. Rosa Park, who, on Dec. 1, 1955, was arrested and jailed for sitting in the white section of a Montgomery, Ala. city bus.

Her arrest caused many in the black community to boycott the businesses in the city. It lasted over a year.

It was then that Martin Luther King Jr. emerged as the boycott movement’s most effective leader.  He possessed all the necessities to be a great leader.

He was smooth and a great motivational speaker.  He understood the non-violent tactics used by the great Mahatma Gandi of India.

He felt that those same tactics could be used by Southern blacks.

He said, “I had come to see early that the Christian doctrine of love operating the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to the Negro in his struggle for freedom.”

I didn’t understand or appreciate Martin Luther King, Jr. at the time of the movement.

Today, I recognize he was one of the bravest men in American history.

He found a cause worth fighting and dying for.

Did he die in vain?

I think not, but I feel too many in the black community have decided not to be free. They choose to remain in bondage to the past and its racial injustices.

His “I Have a Dream” speech has not become a reality only because of the racial divide in our country.

Will his dream ever become what he fought and died for? Only time will tell.

His dream will only be realized when we, as a nation, take God’s Word seriously as in II Chronicles 7:14, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

If you have any questions, or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call 985-652-8477 or e-mail hkeller@comcast.net.