Martin Luther King now stands between the greats of the Long March to Freedom
Reverend King has been immortalised in a life-like bronze statue standing among a hundred other historical figures who have, like King, battled against the tyranny of oppression.
Very few men have had as much of an impact on the fight against injustice as the late, great, Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jnr.
South Africa itself, which has been through it all in the very battle that King and his fellow Americans faced, has in recent years entered into a new era of sorts. The general feeling and effort made by every citizen can be summarised in something very powerful that King once said: “The tensions are not between the races, but between the forces of justice and injustice; between the forces of light and darkness,” as he paraphrased the words found in Ephesians 6:12.
Today, the man stands as a monument for what is right, and the importance of the fight against what is wrong.
In tribute to the work he has done in this regard, and for the role he played in South Africa’s liberation, The Cradle of Humankind had his likeness and his very essence cast into a life-size bronze statue which was revealed on Tuesday, 19 March. King will stand among other like-minded warriors against oppression throughout the years as a symbol of what can be done, what has been done and what is still to be achieved by us all.
King’s statue forms part of the Long March to Freedom exhibition at the Cradle of Humankind visitor’s centre at Maropeng, which currently houses just over a hundred statues of important liberation figures. As you walk through the maze of statues, you experience an eerie illusion that these figures are not looking just at you as you pass, but into your soul.
Many South African and international visitors, especially from America, were invited to attend the unveiling of the statue of King.
The honour of the physical unveiling was given to another great man in the fight against tyranny who, as a younger man had met King, and knew him for many years. Andrew Young, a former United States ambassador to the United Nations, who himself fought off the injustices of social and racial inequality, spoke fondly of his time with King, noting that he knew him well and would never forget him. There was hardly a man better suited for this great distinction, he said. Young tugged on the cover which hung over the statue, and smiled warmly as the bronzed face of his old friend and comrade was shown to the public for the first time.
