“INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS A THREAT TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE”
Who is Martin Luther King Jr & Why do we have MLK day?
Although only alive for an unfortunately short 39 years, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr has left an everlasting legacy upheld by generations. Dr. King was born in the late 1920’s (right at the brink of the Great Depression) in Atlanta, Georgia into a southern family full of love and religion. At just six years old, Dr. King felt the first pains of racism and segregation as a childhood friend was demanded by their father to cease playing with Dr. King. These pains only grew with age as Dr. King experienced ever-increasing racism and segregation within schools, community swimming pools, local stores/shops, and within the judicial system. At just 14 years old, Dr. King won an oratorical contest in which he states:
We cannot have a healthy nation with one-tenth of the people ill-nourished, sick, harboring germs of disease which recognize no color lines- obey no Jim Crow laws…. We cannot come to full prosperity with one great group so ill-delayed that it cannot buy goods. So as we grid ourselves to defend democracy from foreign attack, let us see to it that increasingly at home we give fair play and free opportunity for all people.
Only a year later at just 15 years old, Dr. King started attending college where he became familiar with the teachings of Henry David Thoreau on civil disobedience, igniting his passions for nonviolent resistance. Throughout his time in college, Dr. King grappled with doubts and gained invaluable insights into religion. In his senior year he took these insights and entered the ministry before later going on to his doctoral studies at Boston University. From there, the history speaks for itself; Dr. King was massively instrumental in the Civil Rights movement through his speeches, leadership, and community involvement.
Why is he still important today? How do his thoughts and philosophies carry into our work as healthcare professionals?
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, in his address to the Medical Committee for Human Rights in Chicago, Illinois 1966
As Dr. King's works explain, every struggle and every success of the people is interconnected and inseparable. The fight for civil rights is the fight for universal health care. Everyone deserves the same ability to have access to necessary and life-saving medical care. The 106th president of the National Medical Association (NMA) stated their belief that the teachings and words of Dr. King should be the standard for guiding our work on the current issues of health inequality.
Although Dr. King didn’t often address health directly, (or, if he did, the only sources available are first-hand accounts) many of his principles carry the sentiment of increasing health and health equity for everyone.
“Let us march on poverty until no American parent has to skip a meal so that their children may eat. March on poverty until no starved man walks the streets of our cities and towns in search of jobs that do not exist.” Dr. Kings address at the montgomery march on alabama state capitol 1965
So on this day, let us remember the beautiful legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his work toward creating a better way of life for us all.
Lastly, ask yourself:
What civil rights are being threatened right now and what is my duty as a medical professional to address these issues and continue the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr?
References:
Clayborne, C. (2001) The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr Grand central publishing New
York & Boston found: https://books.google.com/books?id=pynSnGuC964C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Gason, S.L. (2006) Health Equity: the new civil rights frontier Journal of the National Medical
Association 98(3) found: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2576113/pdf/jnma00190-0014.pdf
Martin, M. L. et al (2017) African American Healthcare: assessing progress and needs through
Martin Luther King’s Perspective on Social justice and Equality University Press of Mississippi found: https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/A_Snyder_African_2017.pdf
