The Drum Major Instinct

The Drum Major Instinct

By Expotera
April 29, 2018

Exactly fifty years ago on April 4, 1968 the U.S. Federal
Government, "Assassinated" Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
while he was standing on the balcony outside his second
story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

On Sunday, February 4, 1968 Dr. King delivered his, “The Drum
Major Instinct” sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta,
Georgia exactly two months prior to his very untimely death.

Today, I would like to share a few words from Dr. King's sermon
because all of his words still ring, "True" to this very day, which
is why the U.S Federal Government, "Killed" him fifty years ago:

~~~

I would submit to you this morning that what is wrong in the world
today is that the nations of the world are engaged in a bitter
colossal contest for supremacy and if something doesn’t happen to
stop this trend, I’m sorely afraid that we won’t be here to talk
about Jesus Christ and about God and about brotherhood too many
more years.

If somebody doesn’t bring an end to this suicidal thrust that
we see in the world today, none of us are going to be around,
because somebody’s going to make the mistake through our
senseless blunderings of dropping a nuclear bomb somewhere.

And then another one is going to drop.

And don’t let anybody fool you, this can happen within a matter
of seconds.

They have twenty-megaton bombs in Russia right now that
can destroy a city as big as New York in three seconds, with
everybody wiped away, and every building.

And we can do the same thing to Russia and China.

But this is why we are drifting.

And we are drifting there because nations are caught up with,
"The Drum Major Instinct."

“I must be first.”

“I must be supreme.”

“Our nation must rule the world.”

And I am sad to say that the nation in which we live is the supreme
culprit.

And I’m going to continue to say it to America, because I love this
country too much to see the drift that it has taken.

God didn’t call America to do what she’s doing in the world now.

God didn’t call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war as
the war in Vietnam.

And we are criminals in that war.

We’ve committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the
world, and I’m going to continue to say it.

And we won’t stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a
nation.

~~~

Dr. King concluded his sermon with the following words below and
I would now like to conclude my words by simply saying, I love you
Dr. King and I look forward to seeing and meeting you someday on
the other side of the Platonic Divide:

~~~

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want
a long funeral.

And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk
too long.

And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say.

Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that
isn’t important.

Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other
awards—that’s not important.

Tell them not to mention where I went to school.

I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr.,
tried to give his life serving others.

I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr.,
tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war
question.

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed
the hungry.

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my
life to clothe those who were naked.

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those
who were in prison.

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a, "Drum Major" say that I was
a drum major for justice.

Say that I was a drum major for peace.

I was a drum major for righteousness.

And all of the other shallow things will not matter.

I won’t have any money to leave behind.

I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind.

But I just want to leave a committed life behind.

And that’s all I want to say.