1) agitation is not necessarily christian as it risks “incitement” and will do “more harm than good”;
2) that protests “may help the Communists” and finally
3) any federal government involvement could lead to a “dictatorship”
One hears all of these themes currently amidst the BLM protests- “They
have Marxist ties! The protests are destroying things! I tell my friends tests
are meant to make folks uncomfortable.
And while criminality has occurred, those who oppose reforms are
knowingly and at times maliciously conflating the “protests” with radical (left
and right) elements and with criminal elements who have looted. But mostly those who oppose reforms just do
not want to address reforms, they are reactionary and wish to continue or even
rollback the status quo.
MLK and many of supporters were continually harassed due to their
alleged “communist associations” and while a supporter here or there might have
had a loose association for the vast majority it was innuendo in an effort to
deflect and restrain racial progress.
And if no rules were broken little change would have occurred as the
rules while relevant are built by majorities to enforce status quos.
From the August, 1964 piece: “…I
happened to fly from Atlanta to Jackson on the same plane as Martin Luther King…Across
the aisle from King, there happened to be sitting a stocky, nice-looking young
white man with a short haircut and wearing Ivy League clothes. He looked as if
he might have been a responsible member of a highly regarded college fraternity
six or eight years ago and was now an equally responsible member of the Junior
Chamber of Commerce of a Southern city that prided itself on its progress.
About halfway between Atlanta and Montgomery, the plane’s first stop, he leaned
across the aisle and politely said to King, in a thick drawl, “Excuse me. I
heard them calling you Dr. King. Are you Martin Luther King?”
“Yes, I am,” said King, just as politely.
“I
wonder if I could ask you two questions,” the young man said… “I happen to be a
Southerner, but I also happen to consider myself a Christian. I wonder, do you feel you’re teaching Christian love?”
“Yes, that’s my basic
approach,” King said. “I think love
is the most durable element in the world, and my whole approach is based on
that.”
“Do
you think the people you preach to have a feeling of love?” the young man
asked.
“Well,
I’m not talking about weak love,” King explained. “I’m talking about love with
justice. Weak love can be sentimental and empty. I’m talking about the love
that is strong, so that you love your fellow-men enough to lead them to
justice.”
“Do you think that’s the same love Jesus taught?” the young man
asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“Even though you incite one man against another?”
“You
have to remember that Christ was crucified by people who were against him,”
said King, still in a polite, careful tone. “Do you think there’s love in the
South now? Do you think white people in the South love Negroes?”
“I
anticipated that,” said the young man. “There hasn’t always been love. I admit
we’ve made some mistakes.”
“Uh-huh.
Well, let me tell you some of the things that have happened to us. We were slaves
for two hundred and fifty years. We endured one hundred years of segregation.
We have been brutalized and lynched. Can’t you understand that the Negro is
bound to have some resentment? But I preach that despite this resentment we
should organize militantly but non-violently. If we organize non-violently, we
can show the injustice. I don’t think you’d be talking to me now if we hadn’t
had some success in making people face the issue.”
“I
happen to be a Christian,” the young man repeated.
“Do you think segregation is Christian?” asked King.
“I was anticipating that,” the young man said. “I don’t have any
flat answer. I’m questioning your methods as causing more harm than good.”
“Uh-huh.
Well, what do you suggest we need?” King was able to say “Uh-huh” in a way that
implied he had registered a remark for what it was worth and decided not to
bring up its more obvious weaknesses, but he and the young man did seem
genuinely interested in each other’s views.
“I think we need respect and good will,” said the young man.
“How do you propose to get that?” King asked.
The young man hesitated for a moment and then said, “I don’t know. I
just don’t agree that it does any good to incite people. I know there’s
resentment, and you’re able to capitalize on this resentment and create
friction and incite discord. And you know this.”
“I don’t think we’re inciting discord but exposing discord,” King
said.
“Well, let me ask you this,” said the young man. “Are you concerned
that certain people—well, let’s come out with political labels—that this plays
into the hands of the Communists?”
“I think segregation and discrimination play into the hands of the
Communists much more than the efforts to end them,” said King.
“But
it’s certainly been playing into the Communists’ hands since you and the
others—as you put it—started exposing what was there. There’s certainly more
attention given to it.”
“Don’t
you think that if we don’t solve this the Communists will have more to gain?”
“I
think much more progress was made between the two races before the last few
years, when you and other people started inciting trouble between the two
races.”
“What
is this progress?” asked King. “Where was the lunch-counter desegregation?
Where was the civil-rights law?”
“In
good relations,” the young man answered.
“Good
white relations,” interrupted Vivian, who apparently felt unable to keep out of
the argument any longer.
“Well,
I just wanted to ask those questions,” said the young man. He seemed ready to
end the discussion.
“Uh-huh,”
said King. “Well, I’d like to be loved
by everyone, but we can’t always wait for love. Maybe you ought to read my
writings. I’ve done quite a bit of writing on non-violence.”
“Well, I think you are causing violence,” the
young man said.
“Would
you condemn the robbed man for possessing the money to be robbed?” asked King.
“Would you condemn Christ for having a commitment to truth that drove men to
crucify him? Would you condemn Socrates for having the views that forced the
hemlock on him? Society must condemn the robber, not the man he robs.”
“I
don’t want to discuss our philosophical differences,” said the young man. “I
just wanted to ask you those questions.”
“Uh-huh.
Well, I’m sorry you don’t
think I’m a Christian.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Well, I’m sorry that you don’t think that what I preach is
Christian, and I’m sorry you don’t think segregation is un-Christian.”
King
turned back to his paper for a few moments, as if the conversation had
ended—without progress but with no animosity—and then he looked up and said to
the young man, “What do you think of the
new civil-rights law? Do you think that’s a good law?”
“Well, I haven’t read it, but I think parts of it just carry on the
trend toward federal dictatorship.”
“You
sound like a good Goldwaterite,” said King, with a slight smile. “Are you going
to vote for Goldwater?”
“Yes,
I expect I will,” the young man said.
“It’s
too bad you’re going to back a loser, because I’m afraid we’re going to hand
him a decisive defeat in November.” King’s tone was light; he might have been
joking with a long-time neighbor who had always been a member of the opposing
political party.
“I’ve
voted for losers before,” said the young man.
King
turned back to his reading, and Vivian said, “What do you mean by federal
dictatorship?”
The
white man didn’t seem anxious to take on a fresh adversary, but he replied, “I
think everything should be done at the lowest level of government.”
“How
about all the federal hospitals? The roads?” said Vivian. “You say you want the
federal government to stay out of everything unless it has to do it. That’s why
you have those hospitals and roads in Georgia, because Georgia was too poor to
pay for them. Do you know how much more Mississippi takes from the federal
government per person than it puts in? You didn’t start talking about federal
dictatorship until it came to race—”
“Are
you asking me a question or making a speech?” said the young man.
“Both,”
Vivian said.
King
looked up from his paper and smiled across at the young man. “We’re all
preachers, you see,” he explained, and then turned to discuss something with
Mrs. Cotton as the young man was making a point to Vivian…
“There’s
no need to debate this,” the young man said finally, and he began to look out
the window. At Montgomery, he walked off the plane.
“What
do you think of that?” King asked, shaking his head, as the white man left.
“Such a young man, too. Those are the people who are rallying to Goldwater. You
can’t get to him. His mind has been cold so long there’s nothing that can get
to him.”
The
young man returned to the plane before it left Montgomery, but, with a quick,
embarrassed smile, he walked past King and the others and settled in a rear
seat…”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1964/08/29/letter-from-jackson
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