Inheriting the Movement: Daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reflects on message of nonviolent social change
The youngest child of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. playfully wrestled with another girl in high school and trapped her in a headlock.
The girl fought back. She scratched Bernice King鈥檚 face and pulled her hair. Bernice wanted to throw a punch, but her parents鈥� nonviolent training kicked in.
鈥淪omebody has to cut off the chain of violence,鈥� her mother, , would say, reflecting the nonviolent philosophy she and her husband had espoused together.
鈥淪he said it so often that it prevented me from making a serious error as a teenager,鈥� recalled Dr. Bernice A. King, whose father , when she was only 5.
Today, Bernice King is CEO of 鈥� also known as The King Center 鈥� which is dedicated to educating, inspiring and empowering new generations to carry on King鈥檚 work.
That work is urgently needed.
鈥淎s we bear witness to the dangerous rhetoric from President Trump that encouraged white nationalists to violently attack the U.S. Capitol, leaving five people dead, we must fully embrace King鈥檚 message that 鈥榌n]onviolence is a powerful and聽, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals,鈥欌�� said Tafeni English, director of the聽Civil Rights Memorial Center, which is operated by the 人兽性交 and includes聽interpretive exhibits about civil rights martyrs. 鈥淓mbracing King鈥檚 message of nonviolent social change is the best way to honor his legacy.鈥�
On Friday, which would have been King鈥檚 92nd birthday, the 人兽性交 celebrated the civil rights icon鈥檚 legacy with an online panel discussion titled 鈥淭he March Continues: Building Collective Power to Impact Policy and Dismantle Systems of Oppression in 2021 and Beyond.鈥澛�
In an interview with the 人兽性交, Bernice King reflected on her father鈥檚 message of nonviolent social change and how it applies today, in light of the racial reckoning sparked by the police killings of Black people including聽,听,听,听,听,听,听聽and so many others.
That message is clearly outlined in her father鈥檚 last book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?
鈥淎lthough it was written in 1967, I believe it is a blueprint for us today on how to eradicate racial and economic injustice, while also advising us on the need for heart change,鈥� King said. 鈥淚n it, he shares that 鈥榯he ultimate answer to the race issue will be when people obey the unenforceable.鈥欌��
This 鈥渉eart change鈥� and the need for higher consciousness will prevent people from hurting each other, even when there is no law in place to stop them.
鈥淎s my father said, 鈥楳orality聽cannot聽be legislated, but behavior聽can聽be regulated. Judicial decrees聽may not change the heart, but they聽can聽restrain the heartless,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淪o we must have both heart change and legislative change.鈥�
Black Lives Matter
King would have supported the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition that includes Black Lives Matter, his daughter said.
鈥淢y father believed that every human being has value and should be treated with dignity,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e would certainly applaud the assertion that Black lives matter and the passion for aligning reality with the assertion.
鈥淏lack Lives Matter is saying, 鈥榁alue my personhood. Treat me with respect. Equal respect.鈥� His teachings remind us that we must correct any system, policy or practice that refutes these statements. And, therefore, we must work diligently to perpetuate justice at its best, which he defined as 鈥榣ove correcting everything that stands against love.鈥欌��
Her mother taught what her father called the 鈥渂eloved community,鈥� in which caring and compassion drive policies that support the worldwide elimination of poverty and hunger, and all forms of bigotry and violence.
鈥淲ith all of this in mind, I believe that my father would not only support those working on behalf of the liberation and empowerment of Black lives but would also seek to foster understanding of nonviolence and attention to the beloved community, not only for participants in the movement, but for those who so vehemently oppose BLM, as well.鈥�
The country would not be as focused today on racial injustice, such as police brutality, she said, if not for the energy, commitment and work of Black Lives Matter activists and organizers.
鈥淲henever I speak about Black Lives Matter or have an opportunity to communicate with BLM leaders personally, I often encourage them to consider my father鈥檚 quote in their movement 鈥� our 鈥榥ettlesome task鈥� is to 鈥榙iscover how to organize our strength into compelling power so that the government cannot elude our demands,鈥欌�� she said.
鈥淚t is my hope that, as we continue the fight for racial justice, the movement around Black lives will grab hold of these words and reflect a more defined and unified agenda with a fine-tuned strategy for achieving that agenda.鈥�
Inheriting a legacy
Bernice King does her best to follow the teachings and examples of both parents. When her mother passed away in 2006, she began to recognize her responsibility to carry forth not just her father鈥檚 but also her mother鈥檚 legacy.
in her own right. She was more politically active than her husband when the two first met, and her support of the Montgomery Bus Boycott did not waver 鈥� even after her house was bombed by white supremacists with her and her 10-week-old baby Yolanda inside. The two were not harmed.
鈥淣ot only did I start noticing commonalities in gestures, I also undertook a serious journey to understanding nonviolence at a greater level, eventually committing to it as a way of life, as they were committed,鈥� King said. 鈥淚ndeed, I am my parents鈥� child.鈥�
Just the other day, she said, her commitment to nonviolent social change surfaced when someone asked her about the legacy she inherited.
鈥淭rying to create my own legacy is unnecessary because the legacy that I inherited must be advanced and built upon,鈥� she said. 鈥淏eing a bearer of this legacy requires faithful stewardship and a great deal of energy, effort and focus. This legacy includes nonviolence, being and emulating love, showcasing forgiveness and speaking up for the 鈥榣east of these鈥� and the left out. I can鈥檛 deny that legacy. Why wouldn鈥檛 I embrace it?鈥�
Unlike her siblings 鈥� Dexter King, the late Yolanda King and Martin Luther King III 鈥� by taking up the ministry as a profession.
Like her father, who , she was called to the ministry at 17.
After graduating from Spelman College with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in psychology, she earned a law degree and Master of Divinity degree from Emory University. In 1988, she delivered her first sermon at聽, where her father and grandfather had preached.
She was ordained as a minister in 1990, and after serving as assistant minister at Ebenezer, she began serving as a minister at Greater Rising Star Baptist Church in Atlanta. She later became senior pastor in charge of the youth and women鈥檚 ministries.
Drawing on her legal background, she helps young people, particularly those who are in trouble. Although she has spoken out against war in the Persian Gulf and addressed sexism in churches, her approach is more of a personal, intimate ministry than a social, political gospel.
Like her father, she believes that the church plays an important role in responding to racism and poverty, just as the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church 鈥� which her father pastored 鈥� played a key role as an organizing center for the Montgomery Bus Boycott that sparked the modern civil rights movement.
But at the same time, she said, the Christian church as a whole must address its history as an accomplice in the structural racism of American society.
Quoting her father, she said, 鈥淭he church, by and large, sanctioned slavery and surrounded it with the halo of moral respectability. It also cast the mantle of its sanctity over the system of segregation.鈥�
Today鈥檚 church, she said, 鈥渕ust take the lead in social transformation and in eradicating racism, poverty (and the third evil of the Triple Evils that my father often mentioned, which is militarism); and commit to doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with our God.鈥�
King also shared her thoughts about where the movement should go next, hoping for more coordination among groups seeking social change around a unified agenda. That would help the movement focus more sharply on achieving racial and economic justice and equity, she said.
鈥淭here is so much great, needed work happening and I believe that joining the work together where we can, and utilizing coalition building, will help us advance the cause of justice/equity significantly,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd of course, I recommend commitment to nonviolence as the way to effectuate systemic change and create new policies, practices and behaviors.鈥�
鈥楥onscience tells him it is right鈥�
Her father made many statements that continue to inspire her, including that he had decided to stick with love because, as he said, 鈥淗ate is too great a burden to bear.鈥�
Coretta Scott King would often remind Bernice and her siblings about that quote and another one: 鈥�.鈥�
But this one inspires her the most, and she repeats it most often: 鈥淭here comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor聽politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.鈥�
Photo illustration at top by 人兽性交.聽
