The Accomplishments of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Martin Luther King
By Jason Sibert
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for civil rights and social justice in the fight against racial discrimination in the United States, especially the segregated South.
King led a movement based on Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence. His accomplishments are talked about by Americans of all races today. King also won the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Martin Luther King Day was established as a holiday in states and cities around the country in the 1970’s. It became a federal holiday in 1986 under President Ronald Reagan.
King was just one of 21 Americans to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Non-whites have seen steady advancement since his groundbreaking civil rights work in the 1960’s. Less talked about is Mr. King’s work on behalf of peace and justice. He became an opponent of the Vietnam War in his final days and was a supporter of the Poor People’s Campaign.
Even less talked about is the role of the civil rights movement in the geopolitical struggle against Soviet Russia. Communist movements around the world were using the existence of segregation in our country as a weapon to win the hearts of non-whites around the world. The accomplishments of the civil rights movement helped blunt the appeal of Communism around the third world, a fact mentioned only by a few in the academic world. More mentioned is a defense buildup of President Reagan, that started in 1978 under President Jimmy Carter, in the later years of the Cold War.
The civil rights movement can teach us a lot today. Our country is involved in a geopolitical struggle with totalitarian states like China and authoritarian states like Russia. For all the horrific aspects of the People Republic of China, the state has pulled itself out of poverty and is on its way to being as wealthy as the United States. It does have something to offer poor parts of the world and that is scary for those who value the future of the democratic republic.
The civil rights movement provides a lesson for the geopolitical struggle we are in today. America must offer an attractive vision to the world if we are going to see our way of life prevail over our adversaries. An America that does not have a solid middle-class and has many living below poverty line is not an attractive America. An America that does not lead on climate change is not an attractive America and an America that gives up on democracy is not an attractive America. An America that projects an image of hatred toward Chinese Americans, and others from other parts of the world, is not an attractive America.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King stood for a more attractive America. For the sake of the democratic republic, we must not give up on his vision.
Jason Sibert is the executive director of the Peace Economy Project
