Local opinion: Dr. King knew about breaking free

It can feel difficult, even impossible, to break free from the chains into which you were born, chains in which generations of your ancestors lived their lives. Dr. Martin Luther King knew about that challenge.

He was born during forced segregation in the South to a people who had endured hundreds of years of slavery and, despite being emancipated, were not yet truly free. He led the movement to enshrine civil and voting rights and inspired millions with his determination, tenacity, and bravery. He looked to break free from a reality that was imposed upon him and people of color, and in doing so, he drew inspiration from the Jewish People who did the same.

The Jewish People endured more than 200 years of slavery in Egypt. Generations were born into servitude in a nation that did not only enslave them for financial gain: the ancient Egyptians were deeply racist, and even before enslaving the Jews, they would not so much as share a table for a meal with them. But the Jewish People endured because they knew that one day, God would remember them and would take them to the Promised Land.

Dr. King often echoed this dream, couching the fight for civil rights in terms of the Biblical story of the Jewish People’s journey. Facing a society that had enslaved his ancestors and who still would not share a table with him, he led the movement to break free from the chains of segregation.

He knew this work did not come without risk from those whose order he was toppling, but he remained stalwart, turning again and again to the story of the Jewish People’s journey to the Promised Land for inspiration. Famously, in his speech in Memphis the day before he was murdered, Dr. King said he didn’t mind the threats to his life because “I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”

But the Promised Land wasn’t just an allegory for Dr. King. He repeatedly defended the Promised Land of Israel and the Jewish People’s right to live peacefully there. Dr. King lauded Jewish support for Black rights, defended Israel’s right to exist, and supported the Jewish state during the Six-Day War. As Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam were circulating antisemitic tropes, Dr. King was supporting American Jewry and the importance of the Nation of Israel.

Dr. King once attended a dinner at Harvard University in 1967, during which a student stood up in a negative confrontation and asked Dr. King to address the issue of Zionism, the ideology behind the establishment of the State of Israel. According to Congressman John Lewis, Dr. King responded, “Don’t talk like that. When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking antisemitism.”

Two weeks before his death, Dr. King said, “Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.”

This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I hope that we can draw inspiration from his lifetime of struggle against inequality, subjugation, and bondage, and from his stalwart support for the Jewish People and the Jewish Homeland. I hope that both Israelis and Palestinians can break free from the dictatorship and subjugation of Hamas — to value life over death, equality over oppression, and growth over destruction.

This MLK Day, let’s all break free.