MLK Perspective

Today is a special day as we honor one of the most influential figures in American history, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We take this time to reflect on his remarkable achievements and embrace his dream of love and consistency, which is especially needed in our times.
Currently, a central headline features protesters marching and making public demands. One issue with today’s protests is that positions often shift to align with the narratives set by political leaders. For instance, at the beginning of the month, "No Kings" protesters gathered in cities across America. They expressed their disdain for what they perceived as a kingship in Washington, emphasizing that we are governed by democracy, not by kings.

However, just a few days later, many of these same protesters marched against the capture of the president of Venezuela, who rules his country like a corrupt king and is also accused of being a narco-terrorist.

Currently, those protests have shifted once again to anti-ICE gatherings. These protests arose following the death of a woman who was impeding an ICE operation and allegedly attempted to use her car in an intimidating manner, striking an ICE agent, and sadly being shot in the process. The local politicians, the media, Hollywood elites, and a few NBA coaches have misrepresented the facts of this event by rushing to call the incident murder when, in fact, the video shows the agent being hit by the car, and medical reports indicate that he suffered internal bleeding. The entire situation is unfortunate and is currently under investigation.

What is equally concerning is that the same people calling for justice have been silent concerning other losses of life. For example, there were no protests for Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University, who was brutally attacked and murdered while jogging at the University of Georgia by an undocumented Venezuelan man named Jose Ibara. Similarly, Debrina Kawam, a woman traveling on the F train at Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue, was set on fire and burned to death by Sebastian Zapeta, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala.

These are just two of many tragic and totally avoidable deaths of innocent, law-abiding American citizens, yet there were no protests over their horrifying murders. Their names were not mentioned at the numerous Hollywood award shows.
You may wonder why this is the case. Today's protests are often based on false and inconsistent narratives, rather than on the principles of love and consistency that the great Dr. King represented. Many of these gatherings include profanity, disrespectful signs, and violence, in addition to causing damage to public and private property.
What made Martin Luther King Jr. so effective was not how loudly he yelled or how aggressively he acted. On the contrary, his message and movement were powerful because they were rooted in the Biblical teaching of love, and he was incredibly consistent in his approach. Regardless of the circumstances, King modeled the love that we are taught in the Scriptures. He once said, "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." This perspective may sound familiar because it echoes the teachings of Jesus in Luke 6:27-28, which state, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you."

With this in mind, let us prayerfully seek God's truth so we can process and discern the many events and incidents taking place today with wisdom. By doing so, we can once again offer Jesus' commands to a country in desperate need of a message and a movement inspired by love.