Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a multifaceted, multidimensional and multitalented man. However, because so many fail to study the great works written about African American people, we often find ourselves the victim of 30-secons sound bites on the six o'clock news where excerpts of his omnipresent "I Have A Dream" speech are played over and over again.
Thus, a great many persons fail to come to the realization that there were at least two periods to King's life. The second period was in sharp contrast to the Martin Luther King many in America are familiar with and celebrate as a national holiday the third Monday in January.
Period One began with the Montgomery Bus
Boycott of December 1955 and culminated with the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This period is replete with marches like the Selma-to-Montgomery, Alabama trek and writings like King's "Letter From A Birmingham Jail."
Period Two is more obscure and seldom discussed, perhaps as a result of its sheer poignancy. This period began in the fall of 1965 and continued to King's brutal assassination on April 4, 1968. Ironically, it was a speech that King made exactly one year earlier (April 4, 1967) that would irrevocably change his life and, many believe, hasten his death.
That audacious and uncompromising stand was his decision to deliver a speech entitled "Beyond Vietnam" - a speech said to have been heard around the world.
Not a consensus leader
King saw the war America was waging against the people of Vietnam as an "unjust, evil and futile war." King, a self-proclaimed pacifist, stated he would have fought against Hitler but did not see the Vietnam War as being like World War II.
King said, "I agree with Dante-that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, during a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." Followers of King and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.) importuned him to keep silent about the war because he risked alienating President Lyndon Johnson and the financial supporters of the S.C.L.C.
King's response to those who asked him to be quiet was, "I'm sorry, you don't know me. I'm not a consensus leader. I don't determine what is right and wrong by looking at the budget of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or by taking a Gallup Poll of the Majority opinion. Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher of consensus but a molder of consensus."
Morally correct
When Whitney Young of the Urban League cornered King and publicly castigated him for his views on Vietnam, King responded sharply, "Whitney, what you're saying may get you a foundation grant, but it won't get you into the kingdom of truth."
Martin Luther King, once having decided to do what was morally correct, if not politically correct, began to unleash a barrage of vituperations at his white allies in government and the media. They supported his stand on nonviolence during sit-ins and freedom rides and embraced his civil-disobedience in cities like Birmingham and Selma but rejected his position on Vietnam:
"They applauded us in the sit-in movement when we nonviolently decided to sit in at lunch counters. They applauded us on the freedom rides when we accepted blows without retaliation, They praised us in... Birmingham and Selma, Alabama. Oh, the press was so noble in its applause and... praise when I would say, ‘Be nonviolent toward Bull Connor,' ‘be nonviolent toward Jim Clark.' There is something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that would praise you you when you say, ‘Be nonviolent toward Jim Clark,' but will curse and damn you when you say, ‘Be nonviolent toward little brown Vietnamese children!'"
Not just songs of passivity
Many may have wondered why elected officials like Senator Jesse Helms, D-NC, and others closer to home voiced vigorous opposition to making King's birthday a national holiday. Supporters of the acknowledgement could not understand why there would be so many objections to a man who simply wanted to hold hands and sing "We Shall Overcome."
But King did more than just sing songs of passivity. During the last three years of his life he began to provide a very analytical perspective on the evils of militarism, racism and economic exploitation; a tune that was and still is dismissed as so much harmonic dissonance.
Ahmad Daniels, M.Ed., is a transformation facilitator, life coach and founder of Creative Interchange in Phoenix. He can be reached at ahmad@creative-interchange.com
Leon Ceniceros posted at 6:59 pm on Sun, Jan 15, 2012.
How ..."morally correct"... was Michael Luther King Jr., when he was cheating on his lovely wife at home, taking care of his children, with dozens and dozens of women ???
Isn't it funny how the Liberals and Democrats never mention their heroes' " countless extra-marital affairs"...FDR, John, Bobbie and Teddie Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and who will ever forget the "Polka-Dot Dress Scandal" of Bill Clinton. The fact that none of their wives ever divorced any of these "philanderers" tell you something about Democrat women too. Republicans aren't the only ones with..........."Stepford Wives".
Accuracy posted at 8:26 pm on Sun, Jan 15, 2012.
On Monday, America will pause to honor the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who would have been 83 years old on Jan. 17, 2012.
As America celebrates the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, many will take time to reflect on the Civil Rights Movement and the advances that have been made since King's assassination.
Washington, D.C. has a memorial to King’s legacy of peace and purpose — The memorial sits on the National Mall near the Tidal Basin, between memorials honoring Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. Located just steps from where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The memorial includes a 30-foot-tall sculpture of King and a 450-foot-long granite wall inscribed with 14 quotations from the civil rights leader.
Dale Whiting posted at 3:55 am on Tue, Jan 17, 2012.
Leon,
I've heard of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But who the heck is this Michael Luther King? And I've heard about "...FDR, John, Bobbie and Teddie Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and . . . Bill Clinton." But I've also heard about Dwight David Eisenhower [whose affair with his assigned British female military liason officer-secretary has been hushed up for years] and that Idaho representative, Larry Craig, who likes to bother guys in public airport rest rooms. Weren't both of these Republicans?
shrinkingviolet posted at 1:36 pm on Tue, Jan 17, 2012.
Leon, crawl back into your hole and paint buffalo on cave walls until the stone age comes around again, OK? You'll finally be ahead of the curve, then ... maybe.
VofReason posted at 1:27 pm on Wed, Jan 18, 2012.
I think MKL would spin in his grave if he could see the incivilty of predominantly black rap music and the high instance of single mothers in the black community. I cannot imagine that either were part of his dream.......
Accuracy posted at 3:48 pm on Thu, Jan 19, 2012.
VofReason.....
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a “Dream” . . . with President Barack Hussein Obama we got a “Nightmare”
Rational Human posted at 7:49 am on Mon, Jan 23, 2012.
MLK's dream was finally fulfilled by Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton and other racial ambulance chasers who got rich playing the race card. He was no less an obamanation than the current one.