FROM THE TOP
LELAND ACKER
Once in a generation, a man will stick his neck out to challenge a status quo which breeds injustice. While the safe approach is to settle into the status quo and resign to the idea that "you don't deal with things as they should be, you deal with them as they are," there are those pioneers who challenge the way things are in order to get them to the way they should be.

Those pioneers usually fight the good fight with little, or no reward. Many don't even get to see the fruit of their labors. Still, they crusade what is right, shaking the foundations of the institutions that many thought were invincible.

Monday, we honor one such pioneer. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., could have resigned himself to the "way things are," as the 26-year old pastor of Dexter Ave. Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.

Instead, at risk of his life and the safety of his family (his house was bombed during the boycott), he led in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks. After the U.S. Supreme Court decision which outlawed segregation on public transport, Dr. King could have stayed home in Montgomery, relishing his victory while accepting the rest of "the way things are."

Instead, he formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957.

The SCLC was a major player in the nationwide movement of civil disobedience and non-violent protests.

Dr. King was jailed for his civil rights activism on more than one occasion.

Dr. King knew fighting for racial equality would cost him everything, including his life. Still, he fought the fight, determined that if one has to deal with things the way they are, one should take the time to change the way things are for the better.

April 3, 1968, Dr. King addressed a congregation at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tenn., saying, "(God's) allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

The next day, April 4, 1968, he was assassinated. Dr. King was not a perfect man, but who is?

Monday, let's honor the man who fought the good fight for racial equality.

chreporter@mediactr.com