Honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy by honoring freedom for all

Freedom is the hallmark of democracy. Freedom is an aspiration in which we Americans invest our time, talent and treasure. The fear of the loss of freedom pushes us to fight to keep it as well as to advance it.

"Cry Freedom" was heard during the civil rights movement with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s voice leading the choir. During those civil rights years, millions of Black Americans were still fighting for the freedoms enjoyed for centuries by millions of nonblack Americans. While Black Americans fought for their freedoms, supported by many empathetic white Americans, a minority of white Americans used their freedom to amass generational wealth at the expense of Black Americans as well as millions of white Americans who were as poverty-stricken as most Black Americans.

Simultaneously, "Cry Freedom" was heard in America as an echo from its genesis in South Africa when Black South Africans were weighted down by the heavy shackles of apartheid. Again, supported by empathetic white South Africans, apartheid ended, opening opportunities for Black South Africans to experience freedom

In America, particularly in the last six years, there has been an ever-increasing cry for freedom — individually and collectively — from millions of white Americans in particular because of daily erosions of their freedom. In their thinking, the gain of freedom by nonwhites has been at their expense and they are fed up with paying the bills.

The poster-child event of such disgruntled bill-payers' unrighteous indignation took place January 6, 2021, at the nation's Capitol. A diverse coalition of kindred rage infiltrated the halls of Congress to upend a historical process leading to the certification of a majority of the citizens' voice of democracy.

As we celebrate the national holiday in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we do so against the background of cries for freedom!

Fear has become one of the restraining orders that restricts and threatens freedom as America has known freedom since the acquisition of freedom's rights by nonwhite Americans beginning in 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

Sadly, collisions are increasing at the intersection of freedom and fear. Behind such collisions, we find the tire tracks of a plethora of handguns and assault rifles; rogue social media platforms; the dark money of politics and wealth; unaccountable technology companies that sell teens suicide for profit; and what millions believe to be a marriage between harmful viruses and gigantic Pharma companies too big to fall. Add to this list, a states' rights movement that challenges hard-earned freedoms, for example, by vote suppression strategies.

A majority of Americans, those whose moral conscience has not been so severely compromised, exhausted or dulled by daily bodies of death pulled from the collision sites of various versions of violence, still believe in the freedoms birthed by the parents of democracy — God and inalienable rights and responsibilities rooted in the God of love, truth, justice and righteousness. Such Americans still believe, as did Dr. King, that love triumphs over hatred and faith triumphs over fear.

One does not have to like or love Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to honor him. We honor him because he left a legacy of sacrificial commitment to making America a more perfect union. Though this union is threatened daily, we must lift our voices to higher octaves and "Cry Freedom!"

Too many collisions are taking place at the intersection of freedom and fear. In honoring Dr. King, what better way to do so than by fixing the road to democracy rather than watch it being closed by fearmongers who are threatened by the freedom of others.

The Rev. Charles Mock of Erie is a retired pastor.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and the ongoing quest for freedom