Reverend Bernice A. King, daughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. told a packed Gaston Hall on Tuesday that “unconditional love” was the necessary ingredient to end racism and the other problems plaguing American society today.
“If there’s anything we need more of today ? it is called unconditional love,” King said. “The greatness of America will be found in our capacity to love.”
The three “evil spirits” in the American society are the “spirit of elitism and arrogance,” the “spirit of materialism” and the “spirit of selfishness,” King said. To overcome these spirits, she said that “love in action is what we need to create a more sane ? and stable society.”
King alluded to the biblical story of the good Samaritan when giving an example of unconditional love. “What made my father great was his capacity to love unconditionally. God dictated and defined his life. He pierced our minds with these values,” said King.
“Love is the most powerful force on the face of the Earth. It can neutralize hate,” she said. King said that unconditional love was the fuel for her father’s non-violent movement during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s.
“Unconditional love inspires a heart to serve. Martin King could have been selfish, but Martin Luther King had a heart to serve,” she said.
The problem of racism in America has “come a long way” since the time of her father, King said, but the problem is “a lot more complicated today.”
“We are still judging people by the color of their skin. We’re still seeing ‘black’ as inferior ? You can try to deny it, but it manifests itself everyday,” she said. “We’ve created a system ? Our society has bombarded us with a Eurasian psyche.”
To solve the problem of racism, King said that it was necessary to examine its roots. “We’ve got to go back to slavery and what happened to the African-Americans,” she said. By examining the origin of the problem, individuals can realize why the tension between racial groups began in the first place, King said.
King said that it was necessary for the American education system to implement a new curriculum that required students to learn about the history of minority groups, as well as that of the Western civilization. The current curriculum is an indirect means of creating tension between different racial groups, she said.
“If all you see as a child is the history of another race ? that’s a problem. When you see the other race consistently labeled as superior and you see your race consistently labeled as inferior, all you do is take the information in,” King said. “You end up having tension between the races.”
King said that the policy of “equal opportunity” implemented by many employers today is not enough to solve the problem of institutionalized racism. Employers should not “just hire African-Americans or other minorities ? [they should] elevate them,” she said, explaining a policy that she coined “equal exchange.”
“Equal opportunity is only half the battle. Equal exchange acknowledges the value of both sides as the same,” she said.
King urged all Georgetown students to actively fight for social issues such as civil rights. “We cannot become so consumed in ourselves that we are oblivious to the issues of our times,” she said. King reminded the audience that the Civil Rights movement was a movement that began under the leadership of students.
