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In Memoriam Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, Sr. Wilhelmina J. Rolark THE WASHINGTON INFORMER NEWSPAPER (ISSN#0741-9414) is published weekly on each Thursday. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C. and additional mailing offices. News and advertising deadline is Monday prior to publication. Announcements must be received two weeks prior to event. Copyright 2016 by The Washington Informer. All rights reserved. POSTMASTER: Send change of addresses to The Washington Informer, 3117 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E. Washington, D.C. 20032. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. The Informer Newspaper cannot guarantee the return of photographs. Subscription rates are $45 per year, two years $60. Papers will be received not more than a week after publication. Make checks payable to: THE WASHINGTON INFORMER 3117 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E Washington, D.C. 20032 Phone: 202 561-4100 Fax: 202 574-3785 news@washingtoninformer.com www.washingtoninformer.com
Revisiting Dr. King’s Blueprint to Understand the Push for the Ballot By Dr. Shantella Sherman WI Special Editions Editor
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PUBLISHER Denise Rolark Barnes STAFF D. Kevin McNeir, Editor Ron Burke, Advertising/ Marketing Director Shevry Lassiter, Photo Editor Lafayette Barnes, IV, Assistant Photo Editor John E. De Freitas, Sports Photo Editor Dorothy Rowley, Online Editor ZebraDesigns.net, Design & Layout Mable Neville, Bookkeeper Dr. Charles Vincent, Social Sightings columnist Tatiana Moten, Social Media Specialist Angie Johnson, Circulation REPORTERS Stacy Brown (Senior Writer), Sam P.K. Collins, Timothy Cox, Will Ford (Prince George’s County Writer), Jacqueline Fuller, Hamil Harris, D. Kevin McNeir, Kui Mwai, Dorothy Rowley, Brenda Siler, Lindiwe Vilakazi, Sarafina Wright, James Wright, PHOTOGRAPHERS John E. DeFreitas, Ja’Mon Jackson, Shevry Lassiter, Roy Lewis, Jr., Robert R. Roberts, Anthony Tilghman
Just months before Dr. King’s assassination, he had the opportunity to sit with young people and field their questions about race, fear, and the future. A conscientious and kind man, Dr. King eventually turned the tables on the group of middle school students and inquired of them: What is Your Life’s Blueprint? Asked less to evoke an answer than to encourage self-reflection, the question intimates that every life, while preordained a rational number of successes and setbacks, ought to have as its foundation, a blueprint. This text is of particular consequence as hard-fought battles for social and racial equality sit stoically unattended and crumbling before our eyes. The slow and deliberate gentrification of neighborhoods has ushered a return to segregation through redlining and economic displacement – both of which make null the voices of Americans in marginalized communities. Voting capable people into office and holding accountable those in office, constitutes sound reasoning and needed patriotism. Those who love justice will not allow the tyranny of the past an opportunity to traipse back into the lives of their children and grandchildren, unanswered. Let those of us, of age, not become so weary with the slow rhythm of change that we stop voting or neglect those who need our assistance is registering or getting out on election day to vote. Dr. King promoted the idea that every election was local. While national elections for commander-in-chief take central focus in the media, it is the local election for wards, ANCs, city councils, counties and states that have the biggest impact on our daily lives. For instance, in many jurisdictions, including Illinois and Texas, local police chiefs, school boards, and judges are elected by those in the community, along with mayors and governors. The power to elect and unseat has always been in the hands of the people but is wielded only when their votes are effectively leveled for or against an issue. As key components to the Voting Rights Act disintegrate, Black youth have been largely abandoned by politicians. Yet, young people represent one of the most powerful voting blocs in U.S. history. If history promotes the truth, youth always have. A clear indication of this can be found in the many marches Dr. King lead with his children and those of other civil rights workers, on the front lines. In most footage, these young people range in age from five to 17, yet they appeared civic minded and conscientious of the cause for which they labored. Teach your children the importance of upholding their civic duties. Similarly, college students, some barely of age to cast votes themselves, fought steadfastly to register Black Americans to vote in rural and disenfranchised communities. It costs more than a few of these teens a stint in prison, bodily harm, or their lives. The battle for social equality rested then, as now, on the ability of every citizen to demonstrate their citizenship through voting. Utilizing the texts of Dr. King’s “Give Us the Ballot,” the Informer challenges its readers to re-examine their individual blueprints for life. What is it that you want out of life? For what are you prepared to battle? Are you prepared to speak up and speak out for justice no matter the consequence? Will you allow your vote to count? Dr. King told those students: “If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill, be a scrub in the valley. But be the best little scrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be the sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win, or you fail. Be the best of whatever you are.” It’s late in the day... time to “be” something other than quiet. Vote for your blueprint. 5 American Civil Rights and religious leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr (1929 MLK 1968) bends down as he speaks with a group of schoolgirls in a classroom, January 1960. (Photo by Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)
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Voter Registration Numbers 1964 & Now Compiled by Lee Ross WI Staff Writer In October 1972, John Lewis and Archie E. Allen wrote in The Notre Dame Law Review entitled, “Black Voter Registration Efforts in the South,” found that while white opposition to Black political participation had increased in intensity in the mid-1950s, a new dimension was added to the Black struggle for the right to vote. Although the period of most severe reaction and demagoguery had passed, violence and intimidation were still political factors in the 1950’s. One author duo;’ attributes the rise of racial tensions and subsequent slowdown of black voter registration to reactionary aftermath created in the South by the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.” As they describe it, “Racial tensions grew alarmingly, and white resistance to Negro advancement stiffened in every realm, including the political. Several states adopted new and more demanding voter requirements, and others applied old requirements more strictly.” Weeks before the presidential election of 1964, African Americans and their advocates were working toward a record turnout. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced that it had registered 5.5 million Black voters in 34 states and the District of Columbia as of Oct. 1 and estimated that the Black electorate could number as many as 12 million. In the end, that was about how many blacks turned out, according to census data compiled after the fact: Turnout reached 58.5 percent for an estimated Black population of 20.7 million. Data on voting by race isn’t available for years before 1964, but the N.A.A.C.P. estimated at the time that no more than 5 million African Americans voted in the presidential election of 1960. Black voters wouldn’t go to the polls at such levels again until President Obama’s first election in 2008, when 60.8 percent of them voted. In 2012, 62 percent turned out for Mr. Obama’s re-election. What’s most impressive about the 1964 result, though, is that it happened at a time when some Southern states still viciously repressed Blacks’ attempts to vote. That wouldn’t begin to end until the following year, when the Voting Rights Act passed with the strong support of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who owed much of his re-election margin to that enormous black turnout. In fact, black turnout outside the South hit 72 percent in 1964, a level it has not reached since. In the South, black turnout was just 44 percent.
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The Costs of Voter Suppression, Then & Now By Lee Ross WI Staff Writer The integrity of U.S. elections depends on every eligible American being able to cast a vote that is counted. It was believed that in 2016, the first presidential election in 50 years without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act, that countless Americans faced challenges and obstacles to accessing the ballet box. A June 2018 study conducted jointly by The Atlantic and the Public Religion Research Institute found that an increased number of racially-biased election laws, such as voter-ID legislation, threaten to disenfranchise African American and Latinx communities and effectively, erode the protections afforded them under full citizenship. With an estimated 21 million voters deprived of their Constitutional right to vote as the result of voter ID restrictions, roughly 14 million voters with disabilities were unable to cast a vote because voting centers were ill-equipped to accommodate their access; and an additional 16 million voters that live below the poverty line and identify as Democrat were unable to cast a vote because of polling closures, lack of alternatives to in-person voting, an inability to afford time off from work to vote,
and a lack of transportation to polling locations. Before the signing of the Voting Rights Act by President Lyndon B. Johnson in August 1965, suffrage for non-whites was informed by the 1898 Grandfather Clause – which instituted literacy tests and poll taxes as a requirement to register to vote. It included an added addendum that restricted voting rights to those citizens whose grandfathers could not vote before 1867. The law, initially adopted in Louisiana, grew in popularity among eight other Southern states — Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia. Those who attempted to cast ballots after maneuvering the registration process faced open, often violent retaliation. Calling Johnson’s signing “a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield, Dr. King would celebrate the advancement that came just seven months after he’d launched a Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) campaign to force Congress to pass the legislation. However unconstitutional and unpatriotic these ongoing efforts appear; they represent a persistent attack against suffrage and citizenship
— with origins birthed alongside the nation itself. Andrew Gumbel noted in a 2017 Guardian newspaper feature that the 2000 presidential election exposed flaws in the U.S. electoral system that many Americans had not thought about since Dr. King’s battle for the ballot. “Not only was there a problem of reliability with the voting machines, it also became clear that the United States had never established an unequivocal right to vote; had never established an apolitical, professional class of election managers; and had no proper central electoral commission to set standards and lay down basic rules for everyone to follow, free of political interference,” Gumbel reported. After record voter turnout in 2008, more than 30 states introduced voter suppression legislation in 2011: 16 states passed such measures. Thirteen states introduced bills that: End highly popular Election Day and same-day voter registration, Limit voter registration
drives; and Reduce opportunities for voters to register. Some examples of these include: The state of Maine, which eliminated Election Day registration, the state of Ohio, which ended the period when voters could register and vote on the same day; and Florida and Texas, both restricted voter registration drives. Census data shows that Hispanic (9.6 percent) and African American (11.4 percent) voters are about twice as likely to register to vote through voter registration drives as white voters (5.4 percent). Americans like the late activist Fannie Lou Hamer likened voter disenfranchisement to a brand of cowardice that allowed the weak to manipulate the most productive and vital elements of the nation through self-serving laws. “With the people, for the people, by the people. I crack up when I hear it; I say, with the handful, for the handful, by the handful, cause that’s what really happens,” Hamer said. The inability of the incarcerated as well as returning citizens with felony convictions remains, perhaps, the most contested form of voter disenfranchisement currently under protest. More than 6 million American citizens are barred from voting because of a felony conviction – that equates to one in every 13 African Americans. One report shows that in four states, more than one-fifth of the African American population is disenfranchised: Florida (21 percent), Tennessee (21 percent), Virginia (22 percent), and Kentucky (26 percent)
– numbers which could easily create voting blocs and impact real change in African American communities. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, state approaches to felon disenfranchisement vary tremendously. In Maine and Vermont, felons never lose their right to vote, even while they are incarcerated. In 16 states and the District of Columbia, felons lose their voting rights only while incarcerated, and receive automatic restoration upon release. In 21 states, felons lose their voting rights during incarceration, and for a period of time after, typically while on parole and/or probation. Voting rights are automatically restored after this time period. Former felons may also have to pay any outstanding fines, fees or restitution before their rights are restored as well. And, finally, in 11 states felons lose their voting rights indefinitely for some crimes, or require a governor’s pardon in order for voting rights to be restored, face an additional waiting period after completion of sentence (including parole and probation) or require additional action before voting rights can be restored. Note: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) attempted to restore of voting rights to the state’s more than 200,000 felons. It was struck down by the Virginia Supreme Court, which claimed McAuliffe lacked constitutional authority to do so. McAuliffe did restore rights to 60,000 of the state’s ex-offenders through individual rights restoration orders. mlk
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THE STORY OF A DREAM. PASS IT ON.
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we remember to continue the legacy of those who stood for something. Learn more at aarp.org/blackcommunity.
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In Honoring King’s Legacy, We Must Commit to The Work That Cost Him His Life By Nina Turner Two years before his death, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King wrote that “there is no way merely to find work, or adequate housing, or quality-integrated schools for Negroes alone.” We could only achieve these goals, he said, by pursuing them for all people -- regardless of their race, gender, class or creed. Dr. King’s belief in universal programs as the key to our nation’s shared prosperity has long been central to the African American tradition. For centuries, Black men and women have struggled to guarantee human rights and economic security--not just for themselves, but for everyone. Their perseverance in this universal cause has resulted in the greatest strides towards progress that this country has ever made. For example, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished chattel slavery, established equal protection under the law, and protected the right to vote, benefited people of all races. Reconstruction, which created public schools in the South and advanced the interests of poor farmers, benefited people of all races. And the Civil Rights Movement, which brought an end to the Jim Crow era, benefited people of all races. Even accomplishments that we do not associate exclusively with civil rights and racial justice would not have been realized without
Black leadership and struggle. Social Security and Medicare, key pillars of our safety net, were won by working-class movements in which African Americans played a central role. Millions upon millions of elderly people have been rescued from poverty thanks to their efforts. The elites who would rather see us divided have tried to limit these victories every step of the way. At times, like during the early Jim Crow years, they resorted to open violence, hoping to terrorize us into submission. More recently they have relied on the less visible but no less real violence of budget cuts and austerity. But because of the overwhelming popularity of policies in which everyone has a stake, they have not been able to do away with these hard-earned achievements for good. This history provides a lesson: rather than adopting a narrow focus on the differences between us, the best way to advance the age-old struggle for racial justice and free-
dom is through universality. African Americans are 50% more likely than our white sisters and brothers to be uninsured. This together with the stresses of economic hardship leaves us with worse health outcomes by almost any measure. We suffer from higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and maternal mortality. The only way out of this public health crisis is through a Medicare for All system that provides every single person with access to the kind of care that the rich take for granted as their birthright. We are 25% less likely to graduate from college yet have more student debt than anyone else. Black women like myself are the most indebted of all. I have served as a City Councilwoman and a State Senator and like millions of others still have monthly student loan payments. Free public higher education and the cancellation of student debt would enable millions of African Americans to get the education they want but currently cannot afford.
We are twice as likely to be unemployed, and the jobs we do have are more likely to pay starvation wages. This is the reason why the poverty rate among African Americans is so much higher than the national average. There is no better anti-poverty program than a federal jobs guarantee and labor laws that make it easier to unionize. A Green New Deal would make desperately needed investments in our communities and go a long way towards addressing the environmental racism African Americans in urban and rural areas alike endure. A national housing program would benefit African Americans who, because of the history of redlining and segregation, are disproportionately renters, living month to month at the whims of predatory landlords and forces of gentrification. The list goes on and on. Those who benefit from the status quo will tell us that these are radical ideas that the American people will never accept. But we should remember that the abolition of slavery was a radical idea until it was not. Social Security and Medicare were radical ideas until they were not. The integration of public schools was a radical idea until it was not. For people in my home-
town of Cleveland, Ohio, public goods that alleviate the stress caused by economic insecurity are not pie in the sky proposals. They are much deserved and long overdue. More than fifty years after Reverend King’s death, we have yet to achieve the basic level of economic security for all that he understood to be a precondition for true racial justice. But as the great civil rights leader Ella Baker put it, “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.” This year, we have an opportunity to take a step in that direction. So in the months to come let us dedicate ourselves to bringing people together around a vision that works for all of us. If we do, we can finally create the foundation for a truly just and free society. MLK
5 Nina Turner is a former Ohio state senator and the national co-chair of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.
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At Safeway, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to make their dreams a reality. That is why we are
TIME “ISTHE ALWAYS RIGHT
TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT“ -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
proud to honor and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a true American hero.
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Tracy Family Thrives on Equal Opportunities King Supported by Cynthia Spigner, Corporate Communications Working for Washington Gas is close to being a rite of passage for Karen Tracy’s family, long-time residents of Washington, D.C. Two of Tracy’s
uncles worked for Washington Gas in the early 1940s and recommended her father, Ken, apply here. Karen’s ex-husband, Gregory Boone, and much later, her daughter, Brittany Boone, joined the company, also. “I was so proud of my daughter when
she got a job here,” said Karen. “She has a college degree from Morgan State University and needed something with good pay and benefits. My father was very proud that both of us worked here. He came over to our Springfield office one day to go to the
WGL Supplier Diversity Program As we reflect on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it is essential to speak to his commitment to economic empowerment. This initiative continues today and aligns with our aspirations in being a responsible corporate member in the business community. Washington Gas is committed to supporting diverse and protected class businesses through its Supplier Diversity Program. To underscore our support and amplify our Strive commitment, through our Supplier Diversity for program, Strive for 35 — our goal to increase diverse spend with quality and safety-conscious vendors.
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For our company, procuring goods and services from diverse suppliers is a sound business strategy and produces competition in the marketplace, and benefits our customers, the community, and employees.
credit union and ran into me and Brittany walking from opposite directions. He just hugged us both.” Ken Tracy’s name is legendary within Washington Gas. He started with the company in 1946 as a laborer in the Transportation and Distribution department. During his remarkable 40-year career with Washington Gas, he became the company’s first black compressor operator, one of its first black inspectors, the first black foreman, the company’s first black union officer, a lobbyist and, in 1986, became Washington Gas’ first black vice president. He directed the company’s Community Affairs department until his retirement in 1987. A company article said Ken’s promotion to foreman in 1961 “caused quite a ruckus.” He was quoted as saying, “I was moving up right along with my white peers. This is an equal opportunity company if ever there was one.” He credited strong mentors, too, who advocated for more diversity among the management ranks at Washington Gas. “Nobody gets anywhere by himself,” said Ken. “You’ve got to have God and you’ve got to have friends. I have both.” After Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968 and widespread rioting in Washington, D.C., Washington Gas worked to build stronger relationships with the African American community. The company selected Ken to represent Washington Gas and he participated in the transition toward home rule for the District of Columbia. He established strong ties and remained close friends with many local leaders, including then Mayor Walter Washington. Ken died in June 2012 at age 84. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Karen Tracy graduated from Ballou High School. After working for the federal government, she followed her father’s advice and joined Washington Gas in May 1988. “Washington Gas was paying more and had better benefits,” she said. “My husband worked for a federal agency, also, and had already moved to Washington Gas. I should have beaten him here but didn’t. I knew Washington Gas was a good company because of how my dad started at the bottom digging ditches and worked his way up the ranks.” Karen’s first job with the company was as a receptionist in the Marketing department at Washington Gas’ Springfield, Va., Operations Center. Next, she moved to our Southeast
5 Karen Tracy is the daughter of Ken Tracy, who is legendary at Washington Gas
Field Operations Station in Forestville, Md., where for two years she worked on a project changing out old steel pipelines to more efficient plastic pipelines. She then worked in sales at Washington Gas’ East Station next to Maritime Plaza, all the while following her dad’s sage advice to work hard and continuously improve herself so that she would be ready when opportunities presented themselves. In 2004, she earned an associates degree from Prince Georges Community College. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management in 2006 and, in June 2015, she obtained a Masters Degree, in Project Management from Strayer University. Today, she is back at Washington Gas’ Springfield Center supervising the Inside Sales representatives who process gas service requests through our 703-941-HEAT line and our company’s website, washingtongas.com, for single family homeowners and small projects in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. “I am constantly trying to make myself more marketable within the company and I’m also an advocate for education,” she said. “I strongly believe that when you have knowledge, no one can take that away from you. I am also hoping that younger family members who saw me go back to school will get inspired to do so as well. As extra incentive, I told them about an elderly person in my MBA class.” Karen said WGL’s tuition reimbursement program helped tremendously with college costs. “Washington Gas reimburses up to 75 percent of what we pay in tuition, providing we maintained at least a C average,” she said. “I encourage everyone who hasn’t done so, to continue their education and take advantage of this benefit if your company offers it.” MLK
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The promise of tomorrow . . .
. . . begins today! Washington Gas is proud to be part of the 2020 Washington Informer Charities MLK Special Issue
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A History of Peace & Pride The Kings (Coretta and Martin Luther) were celebrated by young and old alike during the 2016 MLK Peace Walk & Parade.
Photos by Shantella Y. Sherman The D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade was conceived in 1977 by the late Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, founder of The Washington Informer and co-founder of the United Black Fund, along with his wife, the late Ward 8 Councilmember Wilhelmina J. Rolark, Esq., and the late Ralph “Petey” Greene, a community activist and radio personality. The parade began in 1979 -- six years before Dr. King’s birthday became a federal holiday. The Martin Luther King Jr. Parade symbolizes the need to continue Dr. King’s work and reinforces the idea reflected in his words, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” Here are few scenes from previous Martin Luther King Peace Walk & Parade events. MLK
Participants from various social and community organizations near and far made the trek through Anacostia / Congress Heights in frigid temperatures.
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5 Washington Informer publisher, Denise Rolark Barnes keeps pace while waving at supporters along the Peace Walk / Parade route.
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In His Own Words Give Us the Ballot
By Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mr. Chairman, distinguished platform associates, fellow Americans. Three years ago the Supreme Court of this nation rendered in simple, eloquent, and unequivocal language a decision which will long be stenciled on the mental sheets of succeeding generations. For all men of goodwill, this May seventeenth decision came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of human captivity. It came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of disinherited people throughout the world who had dared only to dream of freedom. Unfortunately, this noble and sublime decision has not gone without opposition. This opposition has often risen to ominous proportions. Many states have risen up in open defiance. The legislative halls of the South ring loud with such words as “interposition” and “nullification.” But even more, all types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters. The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition. And so our most urgent request to the president of the United States and every member of Congress is to give us the right to vote. [Audience:] (Yes) Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights. Give us the ballot (Yes), and we will no longer plead to the feder-
al government for passage of an anti-lynching law; we will by the power of our vote write the law on the statute books of the South (All right) and bring an end to the dastardly acts of the hooded perpetrators of violence. Give us the ballot (Give us the ballot), and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs (Yeah) into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens. Give us the ballot (Give us the ballot), and we will fill our legislative halls with men of goodwill (All right now) and send to the sacred halls of Congress men who will not sign a “Southern Manifesto” because of their devotion to the manifesto of justice. (Tell ’em about it) Give us the ballot (Yeah), and we will place judges on the benches of the South who will do justly and love mercy (Yeah), and we will place at the head of the southern states governors who will, who have felt not only the tang of the human, but the glow of the Divine. Give us the ballot (Yes), and we will quietly and nonviolently, without rancor or bitterness, implement the Supreme Court’s decision of May seventeenth, 1954. (That’s right) In this juncture of our nation’s history, there is an urgent need for dedicated and courageous leadership. If we are to solve the problems ahead and make racial justice a reality, this leadership must be fourfold. First, there is need for strong, aggressive leadership from the federal government. So far, only the judicial branch of the government has evinced this quality of leader-
ship. If the executive and legislative branches of the government were as concerned about the protection of our citizenship rights as the federal courts have been, then the transition from a segregated to an integrated society would be infinitely smoother. But we so often look to Washington in vain for this concern. In the midst of the tragic breakdown of law and order, the executive branch of the government is all too silent and apathetic. In the midst of the desperate need for civil rights legislation, the legislative branch of the government is all too stagnant and hypocritical. This dearth of positive leadership from the federal government is not confined to one particular political party. Both political parties have betrayed the cause of justice. (Oh yes) The Democrats have betrayed it by capitulating to the prejudices and undemocratic practices of the southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed it by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of right wing, reactionary northerners. These men so often have a high blood pressure of words and an anemia of deeds. [laughter] In the midst of these prevailing conditions, we come to Washington today pleading with the president and members of Congress to provide a strong, moral, and courageous leadership for a situation that cannot permanently be evaded. We come humbly to say to the men in the forefront of our government that the civil rights issue is not an ephemeral, evanescent domestic issue that can be kicked about by reactionary guardians of the status quo; it is rather an eternal moral issue which may well determine the destiny of our nation (Yeah) in the ideological struggle with communism. The hour is late. The clock of destiny is ticking out. We must act now, before it is too late.
“Give us the ballot (Yes), and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law; we will by the power of our vote write the law on the statute books of the South (All right) and bring an end to the dastardly acts of the hooded perpetrators of violence.”
A second area in which there is need for strong leadership is from the white northern liberals. There is a dire need today for a liberalism which is truly liberal. What we are witnessing today in so many northern communities is a sort of quasi-liberalism which is based on the principle of looking sympathetically at all sides. It is a liberalism so bent on seeing all sides, that it fails to become committed to either side. It is a liberalism that is so objectively analytical that it is not subjectively committed. It is a liberalism which is neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. (All right) We call for a liberalism from the North which will be thoroughly committed to the ideal of racial justice and will not be deterred by the propaganda and subtle words of those who say: “Slow up for a while; you’re pushing too fast.” A third source that we must look to for strong leadership is from the moderates of the white South. It is unfortunate that at this time the leadership of the white South stems from the close-minded reactionaries. These persons gain prominence and power by the dissemination of false ideas and by deliberately appealing to the deepest hate responses within the human mind. It is my firm belief that this close-minded, reactionary, recalcitrant group constitutes a numerical minority. There are in the white South more open-minded moderates than appears on the surface. These persons are silent today because of fear of social, political and economic reprisals. God grant that the white moderates of the South will rise up courageously, without fear, and take up the leadership in this tense period of transition. I cannot close without stressing the urgent need for strong, courageous and intelligent leadership from the Negro community. We need a leadership that is 1957 calm and yet positive. This is no day for the rabble-rouser, whether he be Negro or white. (All right) We must realize that we are grappling with the most weighty social problem of this nation, and in grappling with such a complex problem there is no place for misguided emotionalism. (All right, That’s right)
We must work passionately and unrelentingly for the goal of freedom, but we must be sure that our hands are clean in the struggle. We must never struggle with falsehood, hate, or malice. We must never become bitter. I know how we feel sometime. There is the danger that those of us who have been forced so long to stand amid the tragic midnight of oppression—those of us who have been trampled over, those of us who have been kicked about—there is the danger that we will become bitter. But if we will become bitter and indulge in hate campaigns, the old, the new order which is emerging will be nothing but a duplication of the old order. (Yeah, That’s all right) We must meet hate with love. (Yeah) We must meet physical force with soul force. There is still a voice crying out through the vista of time, saying: “Love your enemies (Yeah), bless them that curse you (Yes), pray for them that despitefully use you.” (That’s right, All right) Then, and only then, can you matriculate into the university of eternal life. That same voice cries out in terms lifted to cosmic proportions: “He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword.” (Yeah, Lord) And history is replete with the bleached bones of nations (Yeah) that failed to follow this command. (All right) We must follow nonviolence and love. (Yes, Lord) Now, I’m not talking about a sentimental, shallow kind of love. (Go ahead) I’m not talking about eros, which is a sort of aesthetic, romantic love. I’m not even talking about philia, which is a sort of intimate affection between personal friends. But I’m talking about agape. (Yes sir) I’m talking about the love of God in the hearts of men. (Yes) I’m talking about a type of love which will cause you to love the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does. (Go ahead) We’ve got to love. (Oh yes) * Delivered at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom gathering at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on May 17, 1957. See additional speech text at www. washingtoninformer.com MLK
THE WASHINGTON INFORMER 2020 MARTIN LUTER KING, JR. SUPPLEMENT / WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM
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Recent & Recommended Books about Dr. King & the Crusade for the Ballot Box By Lee Ross WI Staff Writer Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 David J. Garrow A thorough and insightful account of the historic 1965 civil rights protest at Selma, Alabama, from the author of the Pulitzer Prize– winning biography Bearing the Cross. Vivid descriptions of violence and courageous acts fill David Garrow’s account of the momentous
1965 protest at Selma, Alabama, in which the author illuminates the role of Martin Luther King Jr. in organizing the demonstrations that led to the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Beyond a mere narration of events, Garrow provides an in-depth look at the political strategy of King and of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He explains how King’s awareness of media coverage of the protests—especially reports
of white violence against peaceful African American protestors—would elicit sympathy for the cause and lead to dramatic legislative change. Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws that Changed America Nick Kotz The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nick Kotz offers the first thorough account of the complex working relationship between Lyndon Baines Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr. Tracing both leaders’ paths, from Johnson’s ascension to the presidency in 1963 to King’s assassination in 1968, Kotz describes how they formed a wary alliance that would become instrumental in producing some of the most substantial civil rights legislation in American history: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Drawing on a wealth of newly available sources--Johnson’s taped telephone conversations, voluminous FBI wiretap logs, and secret communications between FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and the president--Kotz examines the forces that drew the charismatic men together and those that eventually drove them apart. Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Martin Luther King Jr. In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., isolated himself from the demands of the civil rights movement, rented a house in Jamaica with no telephone, and labored over his final manuscript. In this important work, which has been unavailable for more than ten years, we find King’s acute analysis of American race relations and the state of the movement after a decade of civil rights efforts. King lays out his thoughts, plans, and dreams for America’s future, including the need for better jobs, higher wages, decent housing, and quality education. Today, as African American communities stand to lose more wealth than any other demographic during this economic crisis, King’s call for economic equality and sustainability is especially pertinent. With a universal message of hope that continues to resonate, King demanded an end to global suffering, asserting that humankind—for the first time—has the resources and technology to eradicate poverty. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March Lynda Blackmon Lowery A memoir of the Civil Rights Movement from one of its youngest heroes--now in paperback will an all-new discussion guide. As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery proved that young adults can be heroes. Jailed eleven times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African Americans. In this memoir, she shows today’s young readers what it means to fight nonviolently (even when the police are using violence, as in the Bloody Sunday protest) and how it felt to be part of changing American history. Straightforward and inspiring, this beautifully illustrated memoir brings readers into the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, complementing Common Core classroom learning and bringing history alive for young readers. MLK
THE WASHINGTON INFORMER 2020 MARTIN LUTER KING, JR. SUPPLEMENT / WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM
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Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum: When Dr. King Urged for Community Development in D.C By Samir Meghelli, Samir Meghelli, Chief Curator, Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum Few DC residents today are aware—though longtime residents may remember—that in March of 1967 the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a grand parade though the Shaw neighborhood. This parade took place thirteen months before he was assassinated and four years after he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Organized by Shaw native, longtime pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church, and later DC Congressman Reverend Walter Fauntroy, it resulted from an initiative that Fauntroy headed—the Model Inner City Community Organization (MICCO). MICCO sought to reimagine the federal policy of urban renewal that was displacing more than 23,000 residents and 1,500 businesses from Southwest DC in the 1950s and ‘60s. Rather than that kind of undemocratic redevelopment in which residents had no say, Reverend Fauntroy and MICCO pushed for urban renewal “with the people who lived there, by the people who lived there, and for the people who lived there.” MICCO worked to empower residents and small business owners, pushed for citizen input into
the planning process, and organized to bring economic benefits to the neighborhood. When Dr. King came to Shaw and led the parade from Dunbar High School to Cardozo High School in support of this effort, he called it “the most massive and comprehensive assault on human despair and physical decay ever initiated by Negroes in the United States.” In the speech he gave on the athletic field at Cardozo High, King said: “I stood in this city nearly four years ago now and told many of you at the historic March on Washington that I have a dream. Since that hot August day, I have seen that dream almost turn into a nightmare. But I want you to know that, in part, because of you and what you propose to do in Shaw, I still have a dream… Renewal with the people, by the people and for the people.” King was clear on the message he wanted to deliver that day to Shaw and District–wide residents: “Prepare to participate, and you will give to your city and our nation a constructive example of how we can deal with one of the most serious problems confronting us today. That’s the message I want you to carry away from this meeting today: prepare to participate!” Just one year after this speech,
King was assassinated. But the work of MICCO continued, assisting longtime residents with much-needed home repairs, helping local nonprofits build quality affordable housing, and enabling the community to participate in the planning and redesign of the then-decrepit Shaw Junior High School. Although this work was relatively short-lived, ending in the mid-1970s under a cloud of financial troubles, it offered one vision for what community-cen-
tered and participatory planning could look like. Today, Shaw is a neighborhood transformed. It is home to one of the fastest gentrifying zip codes in the country, with skyrocketing home values and a population that has gone from more than 90% African American in the 1970s to now less than 30%. As we mark Dr. King’s birthday this month, let us reflect—and act—on what his vision of community-led development might offer the District as it
faces more change in the years to come. And join us at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum to view our “A Right to the City” exhibition which explores how and why neighborhoods have changed across the District, but also how residents have—in the spirit of King’s message—fought for their right to the city, to meaningfully reshape their neighborhoods in ways that best serve their needs and interests. MLK
2020 LUNCHEON SPEAKER LONNIE G. BUNCH III
SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Lonnie G. Bunch III is the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian. He assumed his position June 16, 2019. As Secretary, he oversees 19 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, numerous research centers, and several education units and centers. Bunch was the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and is the first Secretary of the Institution. historian to be Secre
2020 LUNCHEON EMCEE MAUREEN BUNYAN
TELEVISION NEWS ANCHOR Maureen Bunyan is an Aruban-American Washington, D.C.-based television journalist. She was the lead co-anchor at WJLA-TV. Bunyan is a founder and board member of IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation), a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists and President of Maureen Bunyan Communications, Inc. She was named a "Washingtonian of the Year" in 1992 and has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Washington Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, "The Silver Circle" of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), and the Broadcast Pioneers Club of Washington.
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THE WASHINGTON INFORMER 2020 MARTIN LUTER KING, JR. SUPPLEMENT / WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
As we reflect on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we’re proud to do our part to light the way for the next generation of doers and dreamers who will lead our communities forward by bringing us together. pepco.com
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