Today, we aptly, but never fully, honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When I think of all the ways we can and should pay tribute to the great Dr. King, I want to, as an educator, share some of his early writings on education and humanity.

We will all see many of Dr. King’s wise quotes cited this weekend on banners and social media posts. But as an educator, it’s my hope that our UWLA community will take a few moments to dig a bit deeper into what Dr. King means to them, and what his writings and teachings can mean to a greater community.

The formidable scholars at The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford, published – among their collection of The King Papers – an early article written by then college student King, for the Morehouse College school newspaper “Maroon Tiger” in 1947.

The following quote is excerpted from King’s article in that school newspaper, and it truly resonates with me, now more than ever, as we as a society continue to be bombarded with not just injustices, but continuing “half-truths and propaganda” from political leaders and others here and abroad. In his article, King wrote:

“It seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the ligitimate (sic) goals of his life.

Education must also train one for quick, resolute, and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for one’s self is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half-truths, prejudices, and propaganda. At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.

The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which (sic) stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason but with no morals.”

I’m truly impressed by the profound and precocious understanding of not merely education, but of humanity and human nature Dr. King exhibited as a student. He truly understood then and throughout his teachings that a healthy functioning society requires more than just educated thinkers, but critical thinkers who function with a moral compass.

But what did Dr. King mean exactly about functioning with a moral compass? Surely he understood morality to be subjective by demographic and cultural background. We can turn to his later writings for some guidance on his own dilemma about morals.

In his much-heralded “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (16 April 1963), he wrote to fellow clergymen, covering a wide range of subjects, including injustice, non-violent protests, his frustrations with the church leadership, and the deeply moral question of what is justice versus injustice, which he concludes is deeply subjective based on context. He writes:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

And later in the letter he asks the profound question of what exactly is just or unjust. Dr. King writes:

“How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

I personally believe that Dr. King’s call for civil disobedience, pushing his clergy peers toward action versus inaction, was based on a very pure moral code taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, which we now call The Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Dr. King’s sentiments speak to me on a deeply personal level. My mother based her values on a pure moral high ground and taught me to believe in and act with kindness, openness, receptiveness, and fairness, with sharing, caring, and accepting toward everyone, no matter their ethnicity or gender.

That said, even though there are polls that indicate that many Americans believe that morality has been eroded over the years, I believe that is a glass-half-filled, pessimistic viewpoint. Instead, I would assert that it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to submit ourselves to achieving a more rigorous understanding and practice of critical thinking reinforced by a strong moral compass. We should then exercise our words and our actions such that we are always acting with integrity and placing humanity as a whole above our personal goals and objectives, always for the greater good.

Of course, if Dr. King has taught us one thing, it’s that there is always hope for the future. And I remain hopeful that by democratizing education, we can empower compassionate individuals to embody the critical thinking and moral values our society sorely needs. In remembering Dr. King, we should consider his passionate belief that education is a crucial step toward a better tomorrow. And when supported by strong moral values, well-educated students hold the great potential to become highly respected and deeply-influential leaders who can guide us to a more just and equitable world.

I would like to end my tribute to Dr. King today with this prayer or wish if you prefer. The following is Dr. King’s closing to his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” where he calls his peers and all of us, actually, to let love and humanity lift us all up. He wrote:

“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”

As we recognize this holiday, and even head into February, which is Black History Month, may we all not only remember and reflect but commit to living with the kind of deep understanding of our interrelatedness that Dr. King sought through his teachings. And not just today, this weekend, or this week, but all throughout the year and our lives ahead.