Published in the Westchester Guardian, December 2014
On November 27th, 1895, Alfred Bernhard Nobel wrote his last will and testament where his wealth was to be devoted to the annual award of five prizes “to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind”. The concluding prize was an award for peace from a man whose greatest inventions, intended for civil use, i.e., dynamite, were appropriated by military establishments enhancing further human destruction.
On December 10, 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of thirty-five, (the youngest recipient at that time). Now is a good time to review that acceptance speech, his thoughts, beliefs and the humility, graciousness of the man upon whom it was bestowed.
Dr. King, first and foremost a preacher and a believer in the Resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the spiritual body was also a believer in the resurrection of the human spirit toward social justice and compassion for which he and others was martyred. (June of this year also marked the fiftieth anniversary of the brutal murders of the three civil rights workers, James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael “Mickey” Schwerner, shot at close range on the night of June 21–22, by members of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Office and the Philadelphia, Mississippi Police Department.)
His opening remarks in the acceptance address reconfirms the continuing struggles “on behalf of civil rights movement which is moving with determination and majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice”.
In his humbleness, Dr. King questions the receipt of such an award when the battle is far from over and concludes that the award is not for any foreseeable results, but for the method chosen to combat evil – civil disobedience performed peacefully, nonviolently. “I conclude that this award, which I receive on behalf of the movement, is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression.”
The first third of his speech continues with recognition of quality, purpose and idealism. The movement (not his movement) is not a necessity just within the boundaries of the United States but a global necessity. While giving credit and due recognition to the great non-violent movement in India, the Reverend describes again non-violence as “a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” (In the pre-acceptance lecture the prior night, he quotes 1 John 4:7-8, 12. “Beloved, let us love another, because love is of God; everyone who loves God is begotten by God and knows God.”
Non-violence and civil disobedience have proven to be successful, because as Dr. King states, the roads of Montgomery has led to recognition, to this award and that millions of his race are travelling and finding a new dignity and hope for all Americans, forming an alliance between all races. Can it be applied today, not just in Ferguson but on every continent, every piece of soil where the human race (and its apparent inherent bigotry) resides, tries to survive and leave a better legacy for their children?
The middle of his acceptance speech begins with Dr. King’s stubborn “refusal to accept despair as the final resolution to the ambiguities of history”; a refusal to “accept the idea that the ‘is-ness’ of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching ‘ought-ness’ that forever confronts him”; a refusal to accept that man is unable to influence events that surround him; a refusal to accept that man is a tragic figure bound to eternal hatred of those of different races and cultures; and a refusal to accept that all nations must “spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation”.
These refusals are then offset by personal and powerful beliefs, “that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality”; that right defeated is still stronger than victorious evil; and a belief that in the midst of “mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter future tomorrow”; and that “wounded justice, lying prostrate on blood-flowing streets” can rise up and “reign supreme among the children of men.” Today’s youth need to hear this hope and deserve leadership that has been lacking.
He continues with a belief similar to President Franklin Roosevelt’s four freedoms, “that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.” Then continues that the ego, via the “self-centered man” is harmful, while the other-centered man can build upwards.
The Reverend’s remarks encases and embodies the center of his acceptance speech with faith that can and will conquer all and mankind will bow before an ever-loving God; the lion shall lie with the lamb; and every man shall not be afraid. The final belief is audacity, “I believe we shall overcome.”
Today, will any leader dare to proclaim and strive for such truths and beliefs?
Concluding his acceptance, again with humility, “I come as a trustee, for in the depths of my heart I am aware that this prize is much more than an honor to me personally.” Reverend King humbles his life and work by giving himself the title of trustee – a representative – of the countless and nameless individuals who made the journey possible, especially the unseen, unknown workers, whose, “names will never appear in Who’s Who” – creating “a more noble civilization because these humble children of God were willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake.”
(When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.)
A curator is one whom great trust is placed. A curator has a responsibility, obligation and understands the value of the task at hand while recognizing that his position is temporary and without ownership of the guarded heirloom. A curator must have humility. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. concludes, as recipient of this award, giving upon himself the title of curator, “in trust for the heirlooms true owners: all those to whom truth is beauty, and beauty , truth, and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.”
(For a more detailed and comprehensive speech on the Nobel Prize and Dr. King’s struggles, I encourage the reader to read the lecture given the night prior in Oslo.)
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Source:
MLA style: “The Nobel Peace Prize 1964 – Presentation Speech”. Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 11 Nov 2014. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/press.html>
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1964
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