Black seamstress Rosa Parks' insistence on sitting in the for-whites-only front section of a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, and her subsequent arrest, gave a new momentum to the civil rights' .. movement-and led to the emergence of a new black leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. Left, a year after her arrest, Mrs. Parks sits in the front of a city bus following the historic Supreme Court ruling banning segregation on the city's public transit vehicles. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King led the largest-ever civil rights demonstration in the United States. His peaceful March on Washington (below) culminated at the Lincoln Memorial (right), where 200,000 Americans of all races heard his famous speech: "1have a dream that this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed... that all men are created equal. "
n his well-known speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington for civil rights, Martin Luther King, J r., claimed that his dream for the future was "deeply rooted in the American Dream." He had faith in the prospect of his nation living out "the true meaning of its creed ... that all men are created equal." Today, less than a quarter century later, America has taken a significant symbolic step toward the realization of that dream. It has honored King's memory with an annual national holiday, the first of which will be celebrated this year on January 20. Only Jesus Christ, Christopher Columbus, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln have been so honored. A symbolic step is significant only if it expresses the will to move more speedily in the historically indicated direction. It is not a substitute for that movement, but its value is very great. The black struggle is now identified with the national and international struggle for human rights and racial acceptance. Since King's assassination on April 4; 1968, at age 39, the American people have traveled a long distance in understanding his contribution, not only to desegregation and allied causes but also to their cultural and spiritual evolution. Failures and setbacks in racial equality are known to occur in American society, and are widely reported. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, in 1964, King reasserted his "abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind." He was aware, he said, that appeals for brotherhood
were often "answered with fire hoses, snarling dogs, and even death." All the same, he rejected the view that mankind is "tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism .... " We who are still fated, more than 20 years later, to acknowledge the evidence of racism (without finding its midnight starless), can do no less. Acceptance of the allegedly tragic view would be a betrayal of human solidarity as an ultimate human ideal. There may be differences with King about nonviolence, as there are with Mahatma Gandhi, whose theory and the practice of it greatly affected King. Both believed in it as a moral force that can transform individuals and society. Both freed the concept from passivity and associated it with love, peace and harmony. How do we overcome oppression and violence "without resorting to violence and oppression?" Gandhi and King often went to extremes in considering nonviol"ence an answer to all the major problems of our time. King once wrote that "even very violent temperaments can be channeled through nonviolent discipline, if the movement is moving, if they can act constructively." ("Nonviolence and Social Change," The Trumpet of Conscience, Harper & Row, New York, 1968.) We know the options available to violent temperaments, and the overwhelming likelihood of one of those options being chosen in preference to nonviolent discipline. King strengthened .his case by insisting on more than propaganda for and promotion of nonviolence as an idea. That, too, was important, but more important was a strategy of organized action. The aim
was not a new law, but "a massive, new national program." This was to include a "serious economic attack on slums and unemployment .... " As an inspired and zealous organizer, a man with a mission related, for him, to the destiny of mankind, King kept his promises. He was never satisfied with words, with policy formulations, with appeals and criticism. Kirig's widow, Coretta, remarks in the book on her life with him (My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr. ,Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc., New York, 1969) how curious it is that "in so rich a language as English there is only one word for all the different kinds of love." She mentions the three Greek words to which Martin often referred, eros, philia and agape. The first means the soui's yearning for the divine and is now interpreted as aesthetic or romantic love. The second is restricted to¡ reciprocal love ("No one could be sJch a fool," King said, "as to expect a person to feel that kind of love for his oppressor"). The third is disinterested love, not for one's own good but for the good of one's neighbor, not weak or passive, but love in action. Coretta comments: "It was the kind of love Martin aspired to give his enemies. If, because of the defect in the English language, he sometimes sounded mild, just remember that his was a militant life and a militant love." King has elaborated the agape theme in his intellectually autobiographical "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence" (Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, Harper & Row, New York, 1958). Ultimately, he gives the Greek word and idea a Christian slant as he did to his entire credo, whatever the sources from which he borrowed in creating it. He quotes Gandhi often, and shaped his modes of thinking and action in accordance with Gandhi's basic stances. Eventually, however, it is the Cross that is "the eternal expression of the length to which God will go in order to restore a broken community." King's Christianity is always restored to the center of his creed from where it is only temporarily displaced in his life by his theological and philosophical studies. King boldly faced the problems of communist ideology and politics from the Christian point of view. He felt the need to do so because of its "widespread influence" and as "the only serious rival to Christianity." He studies it seriously and comes to the conclusion that it is "fundamentally incompatible" with Christianity. It is philosophically materialistic and atheistic. It is "based on ethical relativism," which King finds repulsive, quoting Lenin, lest he be accused of unfairness in describing its championing of ignoble means for noble ends. "We must be ready," said Lenin, "to employ trickery, deceit, lawbreaking, withholding and concealing truth" ("How Should a Christian View Communism?", Strength to Love, Harper & Row, New York, 1963). King rightly asserts that "Christianity sets forth a system of absolute moral values." Even non-Christians and others who may reject that system in many of its particulars are likely to agree with it in King's formulation: "Immoral means cannot bring moral ends, for the ends are pre-existent in the means."¡ Whatever the weaknesses of Christianity in its practice through history, it has eventually returned to the original spirit oti Christ's teachings. King speaks in that spirit always. He is courageous in reminding the Church that it has "often lagged in its concern for social justice." Recognizing that communism, though it stands for justice in a classless society, has created in practice "new classes and a new lexicon of injustice," King admits honestly
that it has "a sense of purpose and destiny." In a memorable passage, he writes: "We must not engage in a negative anti-communism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy, realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice and righteousness. After our condemnation of the philosophy of communism has been eloquently expressed, we must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity, injustice and racial discrimination which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops." It is not only on the racial, political and moral issues of our time that King is impressive. He also has much to say about the individual character and how it can be developed. Iii "Three Dimensions of a Complete Life" he deals with concern for one's own welfare and achievements, for the welfare of others and for '~that eternal Being who is the source and ground of all reality" (Strength to Love). It is characteristic of King that, in commenting on the third dimension, he is less worried about atheism than about those who "live as though there is no God." I am not concerned here with his arguments about the existence of God, but about his admirable attitude toward those who try to live in "a man-centered universe." He reminds them that in such a universe, "you can never see the me that makes me me, and I can never see the you that makes you you. That invisible something we call personality is beyond our physical gaze."
Left: King greets a blind girl who, after hearing him preach, wanted to touch him. Above: On behalf of her late husband, Mrs. Coretta King receives the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding from President Zakir Husain at a function in New Delhi in 1969. At right is Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Above, right: In 1969 India honored King with a postage stamp. Right: The Kings at a reception in his hometown, Atlanta, after he won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.
The first two dimensions of a complete life transcend their separate and combined meanings only when they acquire a timeless context. King reminds us that, even though his motives are theological and ours mayor may not be, too many of us live with plans "that are big in quantity, but small in quality, plans that move on the horizontal plane of time rather than on the vertical plane of eternity." It is notable that King never argues in favor of the ascetic and the unworldly life. Concern for one's self and for one's mission in life releases creative powers that it is our duty to discover. After discovering what one is made for, "he should surrender all of the power in his being to the achievement of this." I quote the rest of this splendid statement: "He should seek to do it so well that nobody could do it better. He should do it as if God Almighty called him at this particular moment of history for this reason. No one ever makes a great contribution to humanity without this majestic sense of purpose and this dogged determination. No one ever brings his potentiality into actuality without this powerful inner drive." King describes this as the length of a man's life. And then there is the breadth. To self-concern must be added other-concern. We have to choose between altruism and selfishness, the one creative, the other destructive. Interaction with other persons and interdependence are
essential for our peace of mind. No man can live alone. No nation can live alone. Remembering-his visit to India, King mentions not only the high and rewarding moments but also the depressing ones. The latter, inevitably, are associated with the poverty of India, the millions who go to bed hungry every night. Can America remain unconcerned with their condition? No says King, emphatically No. America's destiny is linked to India's. He demands the use of American wealth for aiding the underdeveloped countries of the world. Referring to America's military bases, he pleads for "establishing bases of genuine concern agd understanding." . King once mentioned his trials and sufferings, not out of a martyr complex but because of the influence they had on his thought. He had been imprisoned 12 times, his home bombed twice, he and his family received frequent threats of death, and he was once the victim of a near-fatal stabbing. He held that these events had taught him the "value of unmerited suffering." He had found them "redemptive." To save himself from bitterness he had decided to treat his ordeals as opportunities to transform himself and to "heal the people involved." That kind of healing was at the heart of his philosophy. During the course of his action-oriented public career, he had seen many changes in America and in the world that alarmed him. He also saw some changes he found full of promise. Though he was critical
Such ~oral and spiritual lessons are never learnt by a whole of various contemporary thinkers and movements, he approved of their conviction about the need for ac~ion. He regarded that population demanding its human rights, nor are they learnt conviction as "their most creative collective insight." permanently. Nevertheless, King's voice in defining those lessons will be heard again and again in the years to come. In his essay entitled "A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart," Those who listen to it and spread its message will be King attains the heights of sublimity. The toughness is needed contributing in their own small way to the maturing of for realism and decisiveness, for breaking with superstitions and American and global society. "The ultimate measure of a man," prejudices, for coping with changes and new ideas. The King insists, "is not where he stands in moments of comfort and tenderness is needed to see people as people, to relate to them convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and with love and compassion, to share their joys and sorrows. "Jesus reminds us," he writes, "that the good life combines the controversy" ("On Being a Good Neighbor," Strength to Love). King rightly took all the risks, and fought for legislation to solve toughness of the serpent and the tenderness of the dove." He the problem of segregation and discrimination in America. He urges his readers, black and white, to resist acquiescence in an unjust system and so to avoid becoming participants in its evil. admitted, however, "that the ultimate solution to the race He is always aware that bitter individuals and groups among the - problem lies in the willingness of men to obey the unenforceblacks advocate violence against their white opponents, and for able." That is why he kept reasserting his faith in love as "mankind's most potent weapon for personal and social good reasons. He warns them repeatedly that the victories of transformation." Everyone familiar with King's writings beviolence are temporary and that its legacy will be hatred and comes accustomed to this emphasis on love, whatever the chaos (Strength to Love). context of the argument. Coretta King has briefly narrated in her book (My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr.) the experience of tbeir trip to India in March 1959. She reports that Martin returned "more devoted than ever to Gandhian ideals of nonviolence and simplicity of living. He constantly pondered how to apply them in America." Needless to say, he found many elements in them impossible to adapt, and eventually decided to be like Gandhi "spiritually" rather than in practical ways. His biographer, Stephen B. Oates, reports that King had once "vowed to set aside one day a week for meditation and fasting in the spirit of the Mahatma .... But he could not keep his vow .... What an enemy the phone was to this American Gandhi" (Let the Trumpet Sound, Harper & Row, New York, 1982). Another biographer of King, U.K. Baruah, calls him "the greatest Gandhian volunteer that ever worked for a cause-a revolution, peaceful yet militant" (Portrait of a Gandhian: "The odd thing about assassins, Biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Guwahati, 1985). Dr. King, is that they think The first celebration of Martin Luther King Day in America they've killed you." should be an international event that will serve to spread all his ideas, not only those pertaining to nonviolence and racial In March 1959, Martin Luther King fulfilled his long-time dream of visiting equality. He spoke and wrote persistently, for example, about India. Above, right, he and Mrs. King place wreaths at Raj Ghat, the samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi whose philosophy of nonviolence had inspired King. the need to forgive, and the hard-heartedness both of individuals and of society to do so. Acknowledging that society must have its standards, legal checks and restraints, he wanted it to be sympathetic and merciful. "Those who fall below the standards and those who disobey the laws," he wrote sadly, We shall live in peace, We shall overcome, "are often left in a dark abyss of condemnation and have no We shall live in peace, We shall overcome, hope for a second chance.- Ask an innocent young lady who, We shall live in peace, some day. We shall overcome some day. after a moment of overriding passion, becomes the mother of Deep in my heart Deep in my heart an illegitimate child. She will tell you that society is slow to I do believe I do believe forgive. Ask a public official who, in a moment's carelessness, We shall overcome some day. We shall overcome some day. betrays the public trust. He will tell you that society is slow to forgive" ("Love in Action," Strength to Love). The whole wide world around, We'll walk hand in hand, The whole wide world around, We'll walk hand in hand, Emulation of King's sympathy and mercifulness would lead The whole wide world around, We'll walk hand in hand, to more forgiveness in society. He felt profoundly that social some day. some day. problems are never solved by enforcing the law of revenge. What Deep in my heart Deep in my heart he will always represent is the idea of Love in Action. 0 I do believe We shall overcome
some day.
I do believe We shall overcome
some
day.
"We Shall Overcome" is an old Negro spiritual (writer unknown) that 'came to be regarded as the theme song of the civil rights movement.
About the Author: Nissim Ezekiel is a Bombay-based poet, writer and critic. Among the anthologies he has edited is A Martin Luther King Reader. HisbookJ include The Unfinished Man, Hymns in Darkness and Three Plays.