Sharing lessons learned from Martin Luther King
By Luk Kuth Dak.
April 27, 2011 — I have a total of six books authored by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. under my belt, in addition to other books written about him, one of which is: “ I may not get there with you,” by Michael Eric Dyson, PhD.
Armed with a PhD at an early age, Dr. King could have been anything and everything that he wanted to be in the real world, other than putting his life in constant jeopardy, as a liberator and a civil rights leader for the African- Americans people. But he loved his people so much so that he put them first, and he was ready to die to free them from the brutality of slavery.
“ I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something that he would die for, he isn’t fit to live,” he told his followers.
When Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he decided to donate the entire purse to the civil rights movement. He believed that the prize recognized the movement’s importance, not simply his individual leadership genius.
Through it all, Dr. King’s admires often ask him: “ Hey Doc!” “ when are you going to run for the Congress or the House of the Representatives?” His answer was almost always the same: “ It’s not my calling.”
But when the questions persisted, he literally told them that: “ I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.”
Case closed!
Contrarily, in South Sudan, it seems as though the only “ calling” for anyone and everyone, is to become the president, the vice president, or the speaker of the house, respectively.
Subsequently, even some folks, who can never point to anyone else as being a classmate, the likes the most disgraced, cold-blooded murderer, and the worst of all traitors in the history of South Sudan, the so-called Gen. Peter Gadeet, want to be the president of South Sudan, or else!
Worst of it all, there are some intellectuals, unfortunately, with flashy PhDs, who have basically made it a career in reaching their selfish and individualistic goals of becoming ministers in the government of South Sudan ( GoSS) only by riding the backs of those illiterates bullies of Gadeet’s caliber.
That brings us face to face with a couple of burning questions: What are the meaning and the importance of being educated, or earning a PhD? And how many presidents could we have at one time?
Here again, Dr. King puts it best: “ The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think creatively. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”
Truth is, we can only have one ( elected) president at one time. I guarantee you that, if President Salva Kiir Mayardit weren’t an elected official, I, for one, won’t be in his corner. But because he was chosen, almost unanimously, by the people of South Sudan, he has not only my utmost support and respect, but above it all, my loyalty. Most importantly, he has the right to finish the term for which he was elected to.
More so, as humble as he is, President Kiir would be the first to tell you that there are many more other great leaders in South Sudan. He would even supply the list for you, because he knows, and he should, that those leaders will take their place in due time.
And yet, traitors like Peter Gadeet and Abdul- Baggi, Should have never been allowed to merge with the brave men of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), because they only sought the merger to make it easier for them to spy on the SPLA from within.
I rest my case!
The author’s vice president of the Sudanese – Americans Journalists Union, and former anchorman at Juba Radio. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]
Hero
Sharing lessons learned from Martin Luther King
Dear Luk K. Dak,
You’ve absolutely nailed it all. And in this case, I should say that’s exactly what most of our fine men & women of the South Sudan have dies for.They died because they believed it was a due call for them to liberated their own masses from oppression.So bad that there’re too many traitors within, who are simply blinded by their own personal ego.But, I’m certain Mayardit & his folks with our helps will definitely wins the future.
harry
Sharing lessons learned from Martin Luther King
Dear Luk Kuth Dak,
I would be glad if you shed lights on other legendary individual similar to Dr.King.
Hon, Robert Nesta Marley dedicated his life to serve peace, unity, freedom, and harmony among all nations and races.
This incredible human being was, and still inspiring people everyday to love each other and live in peace, harmony, and unity all over the world.
If you would please, we need somebody like you equipped with knowledge of journalism to spread the message of love, peace, and unity to our humble people of South Sudan.
We need Bob Marley with his prophetic and love for humanity messages to be reintroduced to our fragile societies of South Sudan. Thanks
Harry,
Paul Ongee
Sharing lessons learned from Martin Luther King
Luk Kuth Dak,
Thank you for your tireless effort to remind our readers and especially politicians whose ambitions are based entirely on self-interest not our hard-won freedom, peace and independence which we need to stayed united to safeguard it at any cost. Most of our militia generals and the highly educated ones who desperately want to be leaders at any rate with/out people’s vote or approval are the one messing up our soon-to-be country to confirm what Khartoum claims that Southerners are not ready to govern themselves.
Even during this interim period, they still believe that Southern Sudan’s affairs should have been managed from and by Khartoum or its militia generals without considering the blood of the fallen heroes and heroines. They don’t understand the real meaning of militia or being militia generals, the ranks given by Khartoum for best known reasons. Militiamen and their generals are not professional soldiers because of the limited level of training. The real function of militia is supplemental security wise, to protect the interest of a ruling government.
Southern militia generals like Peter Gadet, David Yau Yau and others prefer to protect both the political, economic and religious interest of Khartoum more than of Southern Sudan. If you ask him why, you will never get a satisfactory answer.
In addition he wants to be a leader or president at any rate or at gun point. Even the very government of Khartoum who provided the limited training and equipment does not recognize the claim of being a leader in Khartoum or Northern Sudan.
But when the tides turn, their southern brothers scoring political and military victories, they quickly shift loyalty as usual before later change their mind again and return to Khartoum as if they have done nothing wrong to Khartoum by initially joining their southern brothers. It has become a habit, a way of survival so long as the militia generals continue killing their own brothers in the South. They don’t question themselves why they do this; because they see Khartoum as a democratic, invincible leader and their own brothers from the south are weak leaders, including themselves that they don’t feel proud of.
They see Khartoum and themselves like democratic institutions and the need to educate their southern brothers about leadership and democracy is through the barrel of a gun not elections process. That’s why they want to live their life of being militia leaders of Khartoum. Khartoum is everything. They feel like if Khartoum vilifies GOSS or southerners, they are excluded though they have their hometowns in the same South Sudan.
The question remains; why a militia general is not allowed to be a leader or President in Khartoum but only recognized by Khartoum because of his bravery to develop and promote a culture of war, killings, maiming, committing atrocities, displacement and insecurity in the South Sudan in the name of corruption, democracy, inefficiency, you name it? Those militia generals never question themselves; for how long will they continue operating under such circumstances? Will the political climate remain constant? What choice do they really need to make in order to make constructive contributions to a society in which they live and will be remembered for?
Paul Ongee
Khartoum Watch