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This is a poignant
moment for all of us. We remember vividly your last visit to our
country. We had hoped that on this occasion, Dr. King and you
would be standing side by side on this platform. That was not to
be. He is not with us but we feel his spirit. We admired Dr.
King. We felt his loss as our own. The tragedy rekindled
memories of the great martyrs of all time who gave their lives
so that men might live and grow. We thought of the great men in
your own country who fell to the assassin's bullet and of
Mahatma Gandhi's martyrdom here in this city, this very month,
twenty-one years ago. Such events remain as wounds in the human
consciousness, reminding us of battles, yet to be fought and
tasks still to be accomplished. We should not mourn for men of
high ideals. Rather we should rejoice that we had the privilege
of having had them with us, to inspire us by their radiant
personalities. So today we are gathered not to offer you grief,
but to salute a man who achieved so much in so short a time. It
is befitting, Madam, that you whom he called the "courage by my
side", you who gave him strength and encouragement in his
historic mission, should be with us to receive this award.
You and your husband both had foreseen that death might come to
him violently. It was perhaps inherent in the situation. Dr.
King chose death for the theme of a sermon, remarking that he
would like to be remembered as a drum major for justice, for
peace and for righteousness. When you were once asked what you
would do if your husband were assassinated, you were courage
personified, replying that you might weep but the work would go
on. Your face of sorrow, so beautiful in its dignity coupled
with infinite compassion, will forever be engraved in our
hearts.
Mahatma Gandhi also had foreseen his end and had prepared
himself for it. Just as training for violence included learning
to kill, the training for non-violence, he said, included
learning how to die. The true badge of the satyagrahi is to be
unafraid.
As if he too had envisaged the martyrdoms of Mahatma Gandhi and
Martin Luther King, Rabindranath Tagore once sang:
In anger we slew him,
With love let us embrace him now,
For in death he lives again amongst us,
The mighty conqueror of death.
This award, Madam, is the highest tribute our nation can bestow
on work for understanding and brotherhood among men. It is named
after a man who himself was a peace-maker and who all his life
laboured passionately for freedom, justice and peace in India
and throughout the world. Dr. Martin Luther King's struggle was
for these same values. He paid for his ideals with his blood,
forging a new bond among the brave and the conscientious of all
races and all nations.
Dr. King's dream embraced the poor and the oppressed of all
lands. His work ennobled us. He spoke of the right of man to
survive and recognized three threats to the survival of
man--racial injustice, poverty and war. He realised that even
under the lamp of affluence which was held aloft by science, lay
the shadow of poverty, compelling two-thirds of the peoples of
the world to exist in hunger and want. He proclaimed that
mankind could be saved from war only if we cared enough for
peace to sacrifice for it.
Dr. Martin Luther King drew his inspiration from Christ, and his
method of action from Mahatma Gandhi. Only through truth can
untruth be vanquished. Only through love can hatred be quenched.
This is the path of the Buddha and of Christ, and in our own
times, that of Mahatma Gandhi and of Martin Luther King.
They believed in the equality of all men. No more false doctrine
has been spread than that of the superiority of one race over
another. It is ironical that there should still be people in
this world who judge men not by their moral worth and
intellectual merit but by the pigment of their skin or other
physical characteristics.
Some governments still rest on the theory of racist
superiority--such as the governments of South Africa and the
lawless regime in Rhodesia. Unregenerate groups in other
countries consider one colour superior to another. Our own
battle is not yet over. Caste and other prejudices still
survive, but most of us are ashamed of them and recognise them
as evils to be combated. We are trying hard to eradicate them.
While there is bondage anywhere, we ourselves cannot be fully
free. While there is oppression anywhere, we ourselves cannot
soar high. Martin Luther King was convinced that one day the
misguided people who believed in racial superiority would
realise the error of their ways. His dream was that white and
black, brown and yellow would live and grow together as flowers
in a garden with their faces turned towards the sun. As you
yourself said, "All of us who believe in what Martin Luther King
stood for, must see to it that his spirit never dies". That
spirit can never die. There may be setbacks in our fight for the
equality of all men. There may be moments of gloom. But victory
must and will be ours. Let us not rest until the equality of all
races and religions becomes a living fact. That is the most
effective and lasting tribute that we can pay to Dr. King.
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