Speeches of Former Amb. Chaveas

Martin Luther King Day 2004

January 15, 2004

Remarks by Ambassador Peter R. Chaveas on the Occasion of the Birthday of Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. and of the Dedication of the Dr. King Library

January 15 is an opportunity for Americans to remember the life and death of a great American, to reflect on the movement that he led and came to personify, and to consider the gap that still exists between the ideals expressed in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution and the reality of life in our very diverse society. But what does the experience and example of Martin Luther King, Jr. mean to Sierra Leone two years after the restoration of peace?

First, we hope that this celebration today will be taken as yet another sign of our confidence in the sustainability of the peace. It has been several years since this Embassy sponsored an official observation of Dr. King’s birthday.  This was due to the lack of peace, the limited scope of the U.S. Missions staff resources and the inadequacy of our facilities.  Today, we are taking another step towards restoring our ability to provide full services by dedicating our refurbished Information Resources Center as the “Dr. King Library.”   The next step will be the ground breaking for the New Embassy Compound near Leicester Peak at a date I expect to be able to announce very shortly!

But beyond this specific event and celebration, I would like to suggest a few aspects of Dr. King’s life and accomplishments that may have some relevance for Sierra Leone today and in the future. First, Dr. King was, of course, an American of African decent.  His entire life bears witness to what a committed individual can accomplish against extraordinary obstacles.  He lived and died in an America that fell far short of the ideals extolled in our Declaration of Independence, particularly if one was of African decent.  Racism was deeply entrenched, blatantly in his native South but pervasively throughout American society.  Many aspects of racism were enshrined in law but even more insidiously, they were deeply engrained in our tradition.    

Traditions are very important to any society. They are an important part of what defines us as a people, as a culture, whether we are Americans or Sierra Leoneans. But not all traditions are good and some are reprehensible. Most traditions change over time and societies that resist all such change often atrophy and die.

Let us consider some of the “traditions” that existed in the United States when Dr. King took up the leadership of the Civil Rights Movement.  It was “tradition” that African-Americans attend separate and inferior schools, that they be denied lodging in hotels and restaurants frequented by whites, that they give up their seats on public transport whenever a white man or woman required them.  It was “tradition” that even well educated African-Americans be denied the right to vote because they could not pass absurd literacy tests. It was “tradition” that African-American men be brutalized and even lynched for looking directly at a white woman. And perhaps worst of all, it was “tradition” that African-Americans should accept these and a myriad of other indignities without protest.

Dr. King could not accept this state of affairs. Instead, he mobilized the power of non-violence to confront the dead hand of “tradition” that said that the African-American must accept inferiority, that segregation must be accepted because it was the law, that the law must be obeyed no matter how unjust it might be and despite the fact that the African-American was denied a rightful role in establishing the law.  Dr. King had the courage to question and confront tradition and unjust law and in doing so he inspired all of America to be a better place, a better society and to adhere more closely to the traditions that inspired the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 13^th, 14^th, 15^th, and 19^th Amendments to our Constitution which ended slavery and extended equal rights, including the right to vote, to all male citizens, and subsequently all female citizens, irrespective of race.  His martyrdom in 1968 left America well short of the ideal for which he strived and we are still short of it but his life and inspired leadership convinced most Americans that we should and could realize the dream that he articulated in 1963 in his famous speech to the March on Washington – “. . I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed – we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”

Is any of the experience of Dr. King’s life of relevance to Sierra Leone today as it strives to deliver itself from the crushing burden of decades of bad governance and corruption and years of horrible and destructive violence?  I believe that the answer is unquestionably yes.  I often hear it said in Sierra Leone that certain things cannot be changed because they are “our tradition.”  In Dr. King’s day, the white power structure in Birmingham, Alabama and throughout the South said the same thing about racial segregation.  In Sierra Leone, I often hear it said that young people, including very talented, well educated young people, must wait their turn to assume positions of leadership and must not challenge the wisdom and authority of their elders and that women must take second place in all things. Dr. King was 26 years old when he coordinated the Montgomery Bus Boycott that had been inspired by the courage of one woman, Rosa Parks, who refused to bow to tradition and give up her bus seat to a white man. Dr. King was only 34 when he led the March on Washington and only 35 when he received the Nobel Prize for Peace. He died before he was forty and yet he had a life so full of accomplishment that he remains a source of inspiration to millions around the world.    

Finally, I think the inspiration of Dr. King is of particular relevance to Sierra Leone as it seeks to reconcile with the tragedy of eleven years of violence. Central to all of Dr. King’s accomplishments was his commitment to nonviolence.  He was deeply committed to the fundamental dignity of all men and women. But while he was prepared to take great risks to defend that dignity and ultimately paid for his commitment with his life, he was just as committed that violence could only detract from human dignity. And the magnitude of his conviction made him one of the giants of our time.

I would assert that the last decade of Sierra Leone’s experience confirms Dr. King’s conviction.  How many Sierra Leoneans would argue that they are better off today for all the violence that has been visited upon this country in recent years?  How many would say that by virtue of many Sierra Leoneans brutalizing their fellow citizens, the ills of corruption and bad governance have been overcome? How many believe that by trading your natural wealth for weapons supplied by outsiders you have attained greater dignity? Sierra Leone remains a country in which there are many injustices to be addressed and I urge Sierra Leoneans of all ages, of all backgrounds and religions to consider how they can best contribute. But I also urge that your efforts show that you have learned from your recent history; that you have considered whether your traditions truly serve the interests of all your fellow citizens or if they are leading you back to the cycle of injustice and violence that has been Sierra Leone’s lot for far too long; and finally I urge that you take inspiration and hope from the life and accomplishments of Dr. King.