Tranquillising Drug Is No Cure
By DAILY GRAPHIC - Daily Graphic Feature Article | Mon, 08 Sep 2008
| 
 The truth is rarely pure and never simple. - By: roylexi.com  |
In the great speech about his dream, Martin Luther King asked Americans not to take the tranquillising drug of gradualism. “Now” he said “is the time to make real the powers of democracy.”
Today, Ghana is praised for practising democracy and we are all keen on electing a democratic government by the democratic process next December.
But is that all democracy is about? Is it merely to allow us to blow off steam occasionally? Martin Luther King answered no 45 years ago. Democracy must make justice a reality, he maintained.
It should give meaning to freedom. It should not allow so many to wallow in the valley of despair, plagued by incessant humiliating poverty.
Martin Luther King called for action, not tomorrow, but now. He did not ask for action bit by bit over the years.
He did not plead to the government to act. He did not take guns against the established order. He called on the people to assert their inalienable rights.
His dream revealed the vision that soon every valley shall be exalted, the crooked places made straight, and the glory of creation revealed.
The glory has not been revealed in all its splendour but a mighty revolution has taken place within our short life time.
Who would have believed that 45 years to the day on 28th August 1963, an African American would stand at the venue of the revelation of the great dream as the Presidential candidate of a major political party of the United States?
We live in stirring times. Looking back on so many years of enslavement and colonialism what has happened in the past 70 years has been phenomenal.
There were many pygmies of leaders during the period, but the few truly great men like Martin Luther King brought hope to many and inspired many.
The Second World War made many question the order of things and new ideas gained ground.
Even before the end of the war at Achimota, the Principal the Rev. RW Stopford was lecturing us about Archbishop William Temple whose deep spirituality did not blind him to the misery which was the lot of many.
William Temple embraced the socialist cause and coined the phrase The Welfare State. Some of us felt that religion should not restrict itself to the pie in the sky, but should be concerned with social issues.
We followed the exploits of the great men and women who gave true meaning to democracy in their pronouncements and work until the hour of independence struck in Ghana.
Many advised those who wanted change to hasten slowly. Some like Nkrumah would not heed that advice.
The poverty, the squalor, the misery could not continue they argued. They were a slur on the nation. We should get rid of them quickly and if in the process we burnt our hands a little, so be it. Nkrumah preferred resolute action with danger to ineffective movement in tranquility.
Years later, Martin Luther King confirmed that gradualism is no cure for our woes.
He believed that we should take the bull by the horns and act mindful of the dangers ahead and determined to deal with them. Continued
Today, Ghana is praised for practising democracy and we are all keen on electing a democratic government by the democratic process next December.
But is that all democracy is about? Is it merely to allow us to blow off steam occasionally? Martin Luther King answered no 45 years ago. Democracy must make justice a reality, he maintained.
It should give meaning to freedom. It should not allow so many to wallow in the valley of despair, plagued by incessant humiliating poverty.
Martin Luther King called for action, not tomorrow, but now. He did not ask for action bit by bit over the years.
He did not plead to the government to act. He did not take guns against the established order. He called on the people to assert their inalienable rights.
His dream revealed the vision that soon every valley shall be exalted, the crooked places made straight, and the glory of creation revealed.
The glory has not been revealed in all its splendour but a mighty revolution has taken place within our short life time.
Who would have believed that 45 years to the day on 28th August 1963, an African American would stand at the venue of the revelation of the great dream as the Presidential candidate of a major political party of the United States?
We live in stirring times. Looking back on so many years of enslavement and colonialism what has happened in the past 70 years has been phenomenal.
There were many pygmies of leaders during the period, but the few truly great men like Martin Luther King brought hope to many and inspired many.
The Second World War made many question the order of things and new ideas gained ground.
Even before the end of the war at Achimota, the Principal the Rev. RW Stopford was lecturing us about Archbishop William Temple whose deep spirituality did not blind him to the misery which was the lot of many.
William Temple embraced the socialist cause and coined the phrase The Welfare State. Some of us felt that religion should not restrict itself to the pie in the sky, but should be concerned with social issues.
We followed the exploits of the great men and women who gave true meaning to democracy in their pronouncements and work until the hour of independence struck in Ghana.
Many advised those who wanted change to hasten slowly. Some like Nkrumah would not heed that advice.
The poverty, the squalor, the misery could not continue they argued. They were a slur on the nation. We should get rid of them quickly and if in the process we burnt our hands a little, so be it. Nkrumah preferred resolute action with danger to ineffective movement in tranquility.
Years later, Martin Luther King confirmed that gradualism is no cure for our woes.
He believed that we should take the bull by the horns and act mindful of the dangers ahead and determined to deal with them. Continued
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