Editorial

The minutiae of history

Martin Luther King Day 2017

"Early morning, April 4, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky . . ."

"Pride (In the Name of Love)" by U2

The band that put together that song, and so many others that have become standard on classic rock stations, knew (and know) what sounds good to the ear. For proof, see their catalog and their Top 40 hits. One of the highlights, if maybe the only highlight, of the opening of the Clinton Presidential Center in November 2004 was listening to Bono & Co. doing their version of The Beatles' "Rain." Which was appropriate enough that day.

But nobody said rock 'n' rollers and pop artists were historians. U2 had a better ear for music than for the minutiae of history. Even recent history. Martin Luther King Jr.--the prophet in the song who came "in the name of love"--was killed on his way to dinner, in the evening, not in early morning of April 4, 1968. Details, details. But close enough for government work. Or, at least close enough for rock 'n' roll. Time does tend to obscure certain details. And not just details. And not just musicians are blinded after a few decades of other headlines, other deaths, other news.

A few years back, Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post reported that a survey of college students found that most--more than 80 percent--knew that Martin Luther King Jr. gave the famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

That's a start!

Unfortunately, a good many of these college students--college students!--thought the Rev. Dr. King was opposing slavery at the time. Much like, say, Harriet Beecher Stowe? Maybe confusion is unavoidable in the eyes of the young. Because by now Martin Luther King Jr. belongs to the ages, and so, to many young people today, he's as distant as George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte. Or maybe Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois.

That's disconcerting. Especially for those of us who were around in 1968. Hey, we're not that old. And the struggles during the civil rights era aren't a part of ancient history. For many of us, the struggle continues today.

But thanks to people like Martin Luther King, it's not the same struggle. Nobody dare put up Whites Only signs at water fountains or hotel lobbies. Racism has to hide its ugly face these days. Before the civil rights movement made things, well, move, racism was displayed proudly in restaurants, at parks, in voting precincts. Racism stood in the schoolhouse door. And if the kids today think it's all ancient history, they should ask their grandparents. We get the feeling they'll be set straight presently.

THE CIVIL rights movement preceded Martin Luther King Jr., sure, but nobody personified, and personifies it still, the way he did--and does. The nation stops, or at least the government shuts down, to celebrate his birthday. That kind of tribute is generally reserved for a couple of presidents and holidays. But an official holiday for Martin Luther King Jr.? Why?

Because there was something about the man. Something both forceful and loving. What was his secret? Where did he get his strength, his hope? How account for his extraordinary place in American history? Maybe it was because he was a preacher, a particular kind of preacher--a black Baptist minister raised in the cadences of his church. And familiar with the God of Exodus. There's a reason his speeches are played over and over, and not just in mid-January. His words had power, sway, beauty, melody . . . and, most important of all, they were the right words at the right time. They still are.

The man had a dream. That one day his children would be judged on the content of their character. Remember, the modern (yes, modern) civil rights movement started right after the Second World War. And didn't the veterans coming back from Europe and the Pacific deserve to be treated better at home than they were in those defeated nations of the Axis?

We're reminded of the story of the black soldiers who had just got back from Germany, having put their lives on the line to defeat Hitler. They were heroes. And were treated so on the buses once they reached American soil. But as soon as those buses crossed over from the harbor states up north into the Deep South, the faces on the buses started to change. Along with the attitude of the very same white people who'd been patting them on the back hours earlier. Soon enough, as the latitudes changed, they were told to sit in the back. Some welcome. Something had to be done. And it was.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. And the nation will celebrate it Monday. Not because he could make a good speech, but because he put himself--his whole self, body and soul and mind--on the line for what he believed. Reread "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," in which this black preacher took on the white church for standing by while injustice was being done. If his words don't make you want to take up the cause, check your pulse.

Here's something even more remarkable about the criticism--justified criticism--that was aimed at the largely passive white church of the South, which was weighed in the balance in those critical years and found wanting.

Martin Luther King Jr. understood the precarious hold racism had on the conscience of his opponents, and he never ceased appealing to that conscience. The man would not give up. He wouldn't give up when threatened with jail, or a beating, or even death. And if he'd lived to see 2017, surely he would still be bearing witness. Only an assassin could stop him, and the assassin only ended his life. His message remains alive. A prophet may be killed, but his words will live on.

Why did Dr. King keep fighting? Was he that much of an optimist despite the seeming odds against him? Maybe. But he had something far greater than mere optimism on his side. He had conviction. He had faith. He had the Word.

We'd like to believe--we do believe--that if Martin Luther King Jr. hadn't come along, another prophet would have. The whole unjust, unnatural, un-American caste system called Jim Crow was already crumbling. Time itself was on his side as Martin Luther King Jr. marched toward justice.

And yet it would be a mistake to think that the result of the struggle for civil rights was inevitable. History is the accumulation of many decisions by many people; it does not favor the passive. It is always a mistake to assume that justice will triumph inevitably, automatically, by some fictive law of history. It will triumph only through the actions of each of us. As it did triumph over Jim Crow.

No, we're not at the mountaintop, not yet, but we're a lot closer than we used to be.

Somewhere, Martin Luther King Jr. might be smiling at the progress his nation has made since 1968. But one has to imagine he'd still be preaching. For America is still awakening, her mind set on freedom.

Always set on freedom.

Editorial on 01/15/2017

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