Pastor Ross is a Guest Editorialist
with the Daily Herald Newspaper, Naperville, IL.
These articles are reprints from her
column entitled "Guest View".

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When King's message of nonviolence hits home, painfully so
Posted Sunday, January 16, 2005, in the Daily herald Newspaper,
written by the Rev. Barbara A. Ross

The other day, for the first time in years, I pulled out the Illinois version of The Times, a newspaper published in northwest Indiana. It is dated Monday, Jan. 19, 1989, the day Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday was celebrated that year.

The front-page headline reads, "Three people beaten to death." On the left is a photo of employees from a funeral home taking an empty gurney into the house.

I stared at the picture, wondering if it was the gurney my son had been brought out on.

When I read this tragic story the first time, I had not been notified my 16-year-old son was among the three people so violently murdered. He had been dead nearly 24 hours, lying in the morgue with a tag around his big toe labeled John Doe No. 2 when I found out.

Ironically, just above the story is a photo of Dr. King with his head bowed, looking as though he is wondering if violence will ever cease. The caption, in red, reads, "Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Life of a leader celebrated." The header is enhanced. "In this region, there are hopeful signs that progress is being made to bring Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous dream closer to reality."

I began to read on.

"The blood-spattered living room walls and ceiling where two men and one woman were found murdered in a home in Indiana just before noon Sunday spoke of the worst kind of violence," the reporter wrote. "The television set just a few feet from the front door was speckled with scarlet splashes. Mixing with the blood in a soupy carpet was melted snow tracked in by investigators and what coroner's staff and Hammond detectives identified as pieces of brain."

That was a terrible day for me. When it hits home, there's a strong since of connecting. I can relate to Dr. King's dream. Sadly, sometimes we don't fully realize the impact of an idea until it becomes personal and painful.

Dr. King knew blacks could never win a violent confrontation. But his dream and commitment to peace went far beyond his pragmatic reasoning. He condemned violence as immoral. He knew nonviolence called upon something in human nature to make hatred decrease and respect increase. The goal of his peaceful protest was to make injustice visible. First, the oppressed must have just cause. Then, through pain, they force the oppressor to see the injustice.

Dr. King rejected the idea that nonviolence meant meek submission. He felt the term "passive resistance" was a misnomer. Nonviolence was the solution, he professed. If they hit you, don't hit back. King knew nonviolence required constant self-discipline, encouragement and training. During the Montgomery protest and later years, Dr. King worked to train blacks to resist violence.

I think one of the ways we can help keep the dream alive is by educating, communicating and training everyone. We must work together. I believe this is a multicultural thing, not just a black thing. A symbol of hope.

As King said, do your work so well so no one can do it better. Do it so well all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to say: Here lived a man who did his job as if God Almighty called him at this particular time in history to do it.

I considered Dr. King's words at the top of The Times again. Some of those hopeful signs of progress to fulfill his dream in northwest Indiana are in the form of street signs carrying King's name. We must do more than name streets; we must educate our people.

I believe Dr. King's courage and commitment to nonviolence have been overlooked by the generations born since his death because we have failed to continue to educate people of all different ethnic backgrounds. We must set up an educational center where we can speak every day to the violence that faces us - even in Naperville. Our message must begin at home and spread to our churches, schools and communities. We must create a safe haven for families who are victims of violent deaths - a place where help can be found, with counseling through education.

We must keep the dream alive, even though it's a challenge every day.

Pastor Ross can be reached at pastorross@philiprcousinamec.org