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1Arctic-Stranger
Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I was alive when he was shot, and remember the outrage, in both white and black communities at his death. We had riots in my small southern town, and I was not allowed outside for a few days.
Dr. King was one of those rare people who embodied a notion that was bigger than all of us--that all people really were created equal, all people were God's children, and should be treated as such, from the Black sharecropper in the Alabama to the White racists who mobbed the Freedom Riders.
Yes, he was a flawed person, which made him human, and to me, made his accomplishments all that much more poignant. That a real life, flawed human being could embody the notions of Justice and Love as he did encourages me.
As a tribute to him, I offer these words, a selection of paragraphs, from my favorite of his work, the Letter from A Birmingham Jail.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I was alive when he was shot, and remember the outrage, in both white and black communities at his death. We had riots in my small southern town, and I was not allowed outside for a few days.
Dr. King was one of those rare people who embodied a notion that was bigger than all of us--that all people really were created equal, all people were God's children, and should be treated as such, from the Black sharecropper in the Alabama to the White racists who mobbed the Freedom Riders.
Yes, he was a flawed person, which made him human, and to me, made his accomplishments all that much more poignant. That a real life, flawed human being could embody the notions of Justice and Love as he did encourages me.
As a tribute to him, I offer these words, a selection of paragraphs, from my favorite of his work, the Letter from A Birmingham Jail.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
2maggie1944
I especially appreciate the last paragraph as it reminds me that even Jesus suggested "luke-warm" adherance to something is not acceptable.
I was in the Peace Corps in Africa when MLK Jr was murdered. That was a very dramatic perspective.
I was in the Peace Corps in Africa when MLK Jr was murdered. That was a very dramatic perspective.
4geneg
I was in Vietnam when Dr. King was assassinated. The white guys were a little more cognizant of who was shooting from behind than usual, but I don't remember any problems in our company.
An infantry outfit is based on trust. One of the first things one learns is that trust equals survival. With more than enough enemies shooting at us from the front, no one, black or white, needed anyone shooting at them from behind. Many Christians may have come to the Lord through the foxhole, but so have many ex-racists altered their opinions of black people in the foxhole. War knows no color.
Here is a link to the Birmingham letter. It contains a passage on the moral nature of law, just and unjust. It is stated far more elegantly than I would ever be able to. I've tried in other threads to point out the moral foundation of law and it's potential for injustice, but the most legal among us have forgotten it, or what's worse, never learned it. However, Dr. King lays it out in pretty irrefutable terms.
This letter, BTW, while ostensibly about black civil rights, is really about the rights given to all mankind by a loving and just God and the struggle many face in one way or another to gain the dignity and respect we deserve because of our humanity. I will follow His law first, then the laws of man.
An infantry outfit is based on trust. One of the first things one learns is that trust equals survival. With more than enough enemies shooting at us from the front, no one, black or white, needed anyone shooting at them from behind. Many Christians may have come to the Lord through the foxhole, but so have many ex-racists altered their opinions of black people in the foxhole. War knows no color.
Here is a link to the Birmingham letter. It contains a passage on the moral nature of law, just and unjust. It is stated far more elegantly than I would ever be able to. I've tried in other threads to point out the moral foundation of law and it's potential for injustice, but the most legal among us have forgotten it, or what's worse, never learned it. However, Dr. King lays it out in pretty irrefutable terms.
This letter, BTW, while ostensibly about black civil rights, is really about the rights given to all mankind by a loving and just God and the struggle many face in one way or another to gain the dignity and respect we deserve because of our humanity. I will follow His law first, then the laws of man.
