Martin Luther King Jr. Day has always been a special day in the United States. That feeling was amplified this year stronger than ever, as it fell on the inaugural eve of our nation's first black president.However, as we in the United States celebrated and remembered our struggle with equality and civil rights for every American, a man in Russia who held those same beliefs in his own country was murdered in cold blood.
His name was Stanislav Markelov, and he was a prominent civil rights lawyer in Russia. He became well-known when he decided to represent Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who was shot to death in 2006 for being critical of the government. Later, he would also represent another journalist who was severely beaten for doing the same. Several tortured civilians in Chechnya counted on him as well to bring justice.
He truly became a hero when he took the case of Elza Kungayeva, an 18-year-old girl who was abducted, beaten, raped and killed by Russian Army Colonel Yuri Budanov. Remarkably, Markelov successfully fought within a crooked system to imprison Budanov.
That joy would not last long. Budanov was later released much earlier than his sentence allowed, and moments after Markelov promised at a press conference to put Budanov back in prison, he was shot in the back of the head by a masked man. Another critical journalist, Anastasia Baburova, was also killed.
It is a sad and strange irony that Russia took such a blow against civil rights as the United States and much of the western world rejoiced in taking a step forward. It's hard for us to imagine a world today where people risk being killed simply for standing up for themselves. However, as Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination reminds us, it's only been 50 years since we've started to take steps forward. Even now, with a newly elected African-American president, we still have many more steps before true equality is reached.
Russia has much longer strides ahead of itself, though. We suppose it may be a natural response in the United States to want to push our beliefs of Democracy and equality on a nation that seems so lacking, but those are not the steps Russia needs. The people themselves are hungry for something more from their government; the people will fight, and we certainly hope they will get the civil rights they deserve.
And just as Russia has at least 50 years of struggle ahead, we in the United States must not forget that our own struggle is not finished. Yes, Obama is proof of our improvement, but as long as ghettos and inadequate schools are pushed to minorities, as long as women work at a lesser pay than men, as long as gays are banned from marriage and as long as Muslims are treated as terrorists in our country, there are steps we need to take to continue our path to equality and freedom.
If Martin Luther King Jr. and Stanislav Markelov can be remembered for anything, let it be that they chose to stand up not only for themselves, but for their neighbors. We encourage you to do the same.
