Marvin Gaye was an incredible talent whose voice was matched by his talent to write verses that motivated the listeners of his music to think beyond the words and demand change. Marvin Gaye was the epic soul singer and once that was established, Marvin Gaye became the symbol for the uplift of the black spirit and black communities. From What’s Going On to Trouble Man, Marvin Gaye was my man.
“Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him”?
LUKE 11:5–6 (RSV)”
This essay by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King takes us back 56 years, "A Knock At The Midnight Hour”. It is said the midnight hour is the darkest of times in human existence. It is said to be a time of darkness and despair.
In America and the question asked by Dr. King is still relevant today is, who will answer the door for humanity's sake because our communities have been in the midnight hour seemingly for 53 years since Dr. King’s murder in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
Salute To Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution
March 31, 1968
National Cathedral, Washington DC
The last Sunday of Dr. King's life was spent in our Nation's Capitol as he was building support for the Poor Peoples Campaign. This campaign that was going to demand America address the needs of poverty and poverty-stricken Americans of all nationalities and races in our country. Dr. King never lived to see the fruition of the dream. He was murdered that week in Memphis, Tennessee the day after he gave his final mountaintop speech. He had moved so far from that August 28, 1963, speech of a hopeful dream. On this day 53 years ago when Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society was going up in smoke in Vietnam, on campuses across the nation with mass demonstrations, and with burning embers of oppressed urban black centers. King spoke truth to power at the National Cathedral in Washington DC. Later that evening Johnson would announce his intention to neither accept or run for re-election in the coming Fall Presidential election. We mustn't allow those in power to homogenized Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. because he was so much more than that statue on The Mall. Dr. King demanded and fought for justice, love and peace. He demanded equality of opportunity educationally, economically and socially. All these elements encased his greatness.
Sunday’s Provoked Thought
Racism Isn’t Hidden
American Justice Is Forbidden
“Yes, we’ve fought hard and long, and I have never doubted that we would prevail in this struggle. Already our rewards have begun to reveal themselves—desegregation, the Voting Rights Act. But what deeply troubles me now is that for all the steps we’ve taken toward integration, I’ve come to believe that we are integrating into a burning house.”
“If that’s what you think, what would you have us do?” asks Harry Belafonte
His answer comes unhesitatingly: Dr. King's says, “We… have to become firemen.”
"Death Of A King"