Op-Ed: Let Dr. King’s Holiday Ring for Freedom — Each Year, Every Day

By Dr. Alveda King in Newsmax

Each year, from Jan. 15 - 22, many Americans and others, globally, remember the legacy of my uncle The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

They pause to carefully reflect not only on my uncle's continually guiding legacy, they also ponder deeply the sanctity of life — in its entirety.

As we remember the birthday, achievements and lasting contributions of Dr. King this year, it now — more than ever in our nation's history — is important to never forget to honor God; never ceasing to value human life, yes: from the womb to the tomb.

In his well known "I Have a Dream" speech, given during the equally famous "March on Washington," a gathering of multitudes, for freedom itself and jobs (August 28, 1963), Dr. King pointedly declared, "I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream — one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed: We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal."

But . . . what is The American Dream? To whom does this dream belong?

Are we not all dreamers?

Are the dreams, of Dr. King's and America's, still alive?

This writer cannot help but believe that if we can finally see ourselves as the one blood, human race, many of our problems including abortion, racism, which lives matter, critical race theory (CRT), systemic racism, and all human injustices will be resolved.

In the spirit of Dr. King, and other leaders who have wholly benefitted humanity, let us also remember the spirit and the letter of that which is in our nation's "Declaration of Independence" (July 4, 1776): "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [and women and children] are created equal [in the image and likeness of God], that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Now, in the 21st century, we the governed need to speak up to the government we've entrusted with power. We need to let our leaders know that babies in the womb are among those "men" who were created equal, and that to destroy them in the womb is to deny them their inalienable right to life.

Obviously not all men and women were equal in America when Thomas Jefferson penned those words adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

Blacks were still slaves; Jefferson himself owned slaves.

Furthermore, Native Americans would spend the next 100 years being dispossessed of their lands. Women couldn't vote and had virtually no rights independent of their fathers and husbands.

Years later, when Abraham Lincoln, (via an executive order and presidential proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862), gave us the Emancipation Proclamation, effective Jan. 1, 1863, the job was not finished.

In the 21st century we still seek the truth.

There is one critical race; the human race; this includes the babies in the womb.

It's wrong to discriminate against any member of the human race for any reason, including skin color and gestational age.

Now more than ever, we must learn to see and love each other as the human race; the human family, from birth to death.

In Acts 17: 26 (NKJV), we read, "26 And He has made from one [a]blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'"

As we remember the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and also the March for Life across America during this season, if we truly believe the right to life is inalienable and that the government serves with power we the people have granted it, it's then well past time that we right America’s unconscionable wrongs and let freedom ring for everyone; for babies, and for all — forevermore.

Dr. Alveda C. King is the daughter of the late slain civil rights activist Rev. A. D. King and the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as a Christian Evangelist. Additionally, she is founder of Speak for Life (speakforlife.org). She is also an acclaimed author, television host, and film and music veteran. Dr. King is a former Georgia State legislator, Chairman of the Center for the American Dream for AFPI, and a 2021 recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award.