The Reoccurring Dream [View all]

"We have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights,… an era where we are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society… We have been in a reform movement… (But) after Selma and the voting rights bill, we moved into a new era, which must be the era of revolution… We must recognize that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power… This means a revolution of values and other things…We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are all tied together. And you really can’t get rid of one without getting rid of the others…The whole structure of American life must be changed… America is a hypocritical nation and (we) must put (our) own house in order.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Speech at Staff Retreat, 1967 (plans for Poor Peoples Campaign)

As we approach Martin Luther King Day, we need to remind America that Rev. King was not a plaster paris statue, as his sister noted. He belongs smack dab among humanity, in an honored level for his courage and leadership. And at the same time, we need to respect the thousands and thousands of citizens who answered his call back then, and those he has inspired by example in the decades after his death.

One can correctly refer to his as Dr. King or Rev. King. He was a human being, just the same as you or I, though he had an amazing intellect. This intelligence resulted in his having times when he was discouraged, and in one of his powerful speeches, he spoke of depression late one night after answering a phone call in which his life was threatened. I think about how both Malcolm and Martin knew, yet carried on because of their love of people.

Dr. King's desire to organize a Poor Peoples Campaign, which would shut down Washington, had begun to take shape since the fall of 1966, during a one-day rally in DC. It was becoming clear that the Vietnam war was taking the funding LBJ's Great Society required. In the summer of 1967, Senator Robert F. Kennedy asked Marian Wright Edelman to tell Dr. King that he should bring it on, to pressure the president and Congress to take meaningful actions.

Not everyone thought it was a good idea, including among Dr. King's staff. This led to some extremely tense conversations within the group. It is important to remember the parties were different then than today, as three Democratic Senators spoke out harshly when they learned of Dr. King's plans. Indeed, Senator Robert Byrd advocated detaining Dr. King for “national security” reasons. So it was a hard time for Dr. King, in the most difficult period of his life – after he had delivered his revolutionary sermon “A Time to Break Silence (Beyond Vietnam)” a year to the day before he was murdered.

Rev. King's closest associate, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, attempted to continue on with Martin's planned campaign, but it never regained the potential that it once had. Martin Luther King was planning to unite people, including from groups that had previously viewed other groups with suspicion and mistrust. Rev. King might have been able to pull that off, and the powers-that-be recognized this. And so Martin died.

Around this same time, a young member of the Chicago Black Panthers was being recognized for his outstanding leadership ability. Fred Hampton had worked to unite those same groups that Dr. King had focused on. At one heated meeting between hostile groups who were arguing, this young man stood up and asked a question: “Did your child have breakfast before going to school today?” It changed the meeting, for Fred Hampton had identified the common ground that held the promise of higher ground. He would soon be murdered, too.

To again quote Dr. King, “we have some difficult days ahead.” I am convinced that we need to take hold of Dr. King's teaching. Non-violent protest is obviously needed. I understand the outrage. And the discouragement. Yes I do. That includes the yelling at ICE. I get that. But I know we need to shift to the more militant pacifism of Dr. King and the thousands who helped him make progress.

If the criminally insane administration is not put in check by mid-spring, then we will need to engage in a similar action to what Dr. King planned, and shut the machine down. Obviously, there are risks involved, including the concern that the felon would declare a national emergency. Yet they are already shooting. And as Neil sang, “What if you knew her, and found her dead on the ground?”

Peace,
H2O Man