As we approach Jan.19 and the celebration of Martin Luther King's birthday, it is important to remember that the most meaningful way we can honor this great leader is to live out the timeless truths that he so eloquently articulated in his life. One of the strongest and most consistent themes of King's life was his commitment to standing in solidarity with the poor.
Ohio University, and President McDavis in particular, have an opportunity to take a step that would align this university in greater harmony with Rev. King's message. Here in southeast Ohio, we live in the midst of very real poverty. Of the 20 counties in Ohio with the highest poverty rates, 19 are right here in Appalachia. Of those counties, four have been singled out by the Appalachian Regional Commission as economically distressed - referring to persistent and more extreme poverty. Three of these four - Athens, Meigs, and Vinton - are clustered in the immediate vicinity of Ohio University.
President McDavis is being offered an annual package of compensation worth over HALF A MILLION DOLLARS. His base salary of $380,000 is increased to $425,000 when a deferred compensation of $45,000 is added in, and he will benefit further by having the $78,000 annual budget of his mansion on Park Place covered completely by the university.
I have attended university programs where President McDavis spoke very positively about King's stature as one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century. I felt that these comments were very sincere and heartfelt. But it is also quite important that we honor the full message of this man.
The centrality of King's stance on poverty is demonstrated by the projects he was deeply involved in at the very moment he was assassinated. He was organizing on behalf of the sanitation workers of Memphis to protest their poverty level wages. For several months prior, he had been planning a Poor Peoples March to create a Resurrection City tent village on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Rev. King gave a speech in which he identified himself with those segments of our society normally invisible: I choose to identify with the poor ... for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity ... I choose to live for and with those for whom life is one long
desolate corridor with no exit sign. This is the way I'm going ... If it means sacrifice I'm going that way ... because I heard a voice saying
do something for others.'
Although King is most remembered for his I Have A Dream speech of 1963
it is clear that in the years leading up to his death in 1967 he began to deeply question many of the basic structures of our society that he felt led inevitably to a glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. In a famous speech entitled A Time to Break Silence, he called for our nation to undergo a radical revolution of values.
Here is a critical excerpt (April 4
1967 at New York's Riverside Church):
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar ... It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values .... will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: This is not just.' ... When machines and computers
profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people
the giant triplets of racism
materialism
and militarism are incapable of being conquered ... A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
In making these kinds of statements, Rev. King was indeed a courageous prophet. He was probing to locate the source of the injustices against which he fought his entire life. In our commemorations of him, we must not separate these aspects and deal only with a sanitized version. To do so does not honor him; in fact, it most assuredly dishonors him.
President McDavis stated in an interview on WOUB-TV that one of his greatest satisfactions is when he feels he is giving back to the community. I would like to invite him to honor the spirit of Rev. King by recognizing the poverty in the region surrounding OU and donate his recent $85,000 raise to a program that serves the poor. He would have company in taking such a step, as at least 18 university presidents have returned portions of their pay since last July.
Such a step would be very much in keeping with the values of the man whose birthday we celebrate. I close with words attributed to Jesus that inspired Rev. King:
Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these
you did not do for me.
Gary Houser is a resident of Athens.
