Today is the 39th anniversary of Dr. King's death. He would have been twice as old as he was the day he was killed back in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. I'm not sure how many people actually mark the anniversary of MLK's death, as they now celebrate his life, but I think about his passing quite a bit.
I had just turned six years old just two weeks before, and I remember the open casket views on television and in the Jet Magazine. What those views taught us, especially in the African American community, was that he was really and truly gone from us.
Dr. King's death took from us the kind of fearless leader that we are just beginning to see again on the American landscape--where someone did not fear death and would put their very life on the line for what they believed in.
Call it moral leadership.
We have been in a vacuum where our most trusted figures are people that populate the television and movie screens. They play doctors and lawyers on TV, but they do not actually live the lives they portray. Even our politicians are manufactured in a way that would give Leni Riefenstahl heart palpitations. Can someone come out of nowhere on the American political landscape and captivate an entire nation into believing what is right and good?
I hate to be a cynic, but I doubt it. I doubt whether Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, John McCain, John Edwards, and the host of others, will have the answer or antidote that we are looking for in our own hearts.
I used to love American politics as a kid, especially the Chicago variety, because it was so theatrical. I now love thinking about what it takes to create a good and great leader, someone who is just, because that's what will save us all.
In future posts, I'll discuss what makes a modern leader in this new Republic.
