Doug and MLK: a modern-day interview!

 

Doug Tjapkes interviews Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK Day, 2025 

Doug: I was a young broadcast journalist/newscaster when your name made national headlines. It was apparent from the very beginning that your campaign was not based on anger and hatred. What did you tell your workers?

MLK: Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? 

Why no hatred, when you and your people had been treated so shabbily?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. 

And so, your policy, your position?

Hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love. 

Injustice was certainly at the top of your list.

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. 

What, then, was your challenge to your co-workers?

Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice ― or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? 

Justice, then, was your goal.

True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice. But, justice too long delayed is justice denied. 

And your strong words of advice to your team?

A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true. 

Churches also struggled with this whole issue of justice. What was your response to the inaction of many?

A Church that has lost its voice for justice is a Church that has lost its relevance in the world. 

Well, that set you up for a discouraging, lengthy battle. Were you disheartened?

I refused to believe that the bank of justice was bankrupt! 

I have long contended that complacency is a sin. You had some strong feelings about inaction as well!

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. 

So, once again, what was your challenge to your workers?

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” 

And yet, it seemed that many “good” citizens just couldn’t take that step!

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. 

Your words to those good people?

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. 

Which leads you to this conclusion:

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. 

Your words not only formed a challenge for that day, but also lead to a challenge for all of us today!

The time is always right to do what is right.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. 

The problem is so huge! What can a single individual do to make a difference?

Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.  

As we wrap up this interview, what are your final words to our readers?

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?" 

Amen and Amen!