Posted on Fri, Jan. 16, 2009

It is that time of year when students and adults throughout the United States honor that great American, Martin Luther King Jr. But what is left out is the influence Mahatma Gandhi had on King and more so the influence Henry David Thoreau had on Gandhi and King.

Gandhi was inspired by the writings of Thoreau, especially his "Civil Disobedience," which Gandhi called a "master treatise" and which was the blueprint Gandhi used to bring the British Empire to its knees. King, inspired by Gandhi's success, read and applied Thoreau's "Theory of Civil Disobedience" to the civil rights movement of the early '60s.

By following the philosophy and practical uses laid out in the "Civil Disobedience," King was able to change 250 years of Jim Crow laws, grant black Americans the civil rights they were due and put a massive hole in the ugly body of racism in America.

In our dire economic times, Americans should purchase a copy of Thoreau's "Walden," which not only contains "Civil Disobedience" but also contains many writings, most notably his writing on "Economy," which should be mandatory reading for all of us.

BROOKS JUDD

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