Lately I’ve been studying about the Civil Rights Movement and I’m blown away at the amount of risk taken by those standing up for the right thing.  These risk takers obviously didn’t know how America would treat them but it turns out this quality was exactly what America was looking for in a leader.

John F. Kennedy, while running for president in 1960, learned of the unjust prison sentence of a civil rights activist named Martin Luther King Jr.  King was arrested along with 33 other activists holding a nonviolent protest against a segregated cafeteria in Atlanta.  All charges were dropped except King’s, who the police said violated probation stemming from a minor traffic ticket months earlier.  Many in America considered the arrest and conviction unjust but President Dwight Eisenhower ignored the situation along with VP, and republican presidential candidate, Richard Nixon.  John Kennedy did not.  He interceded on King’s behalf, speaking out against the imprisonment, and King was released.  Eight days later John F. Kennedy won the Presidential election by a slender margin.

It’s natural to play it safe and stay away from risk.  Lay low and don’t stand out and you won’t be criticized…and you probably won’t make much of an impact either.   Kennedy was risking his career but MLK was risking his life!  Both, of course, were assassinated but not before civil rights history was made.  Enormous risk became enormous impact.