“Nonviolence is an orphan among democratic ideas. It has nearly vanished from public discourse even though the most basic element of free government – the vote – has no other meaning. Every ballot is a piece of nonviolence, signifying hard-won consent to raise politics above firepower and bloody conquest. Such compacts work more or less securely in different lands. Nations gain strength from vote-based institutions in commerce and civil society, but the whole architecture of representative democracy springs from the handiwork of nonviolence.
“America's Founders centered political responsibility in the citizens themselves, but, nearly two centuries later, no one expected a largely invisible and dependent racial minority to ignite protests of steadfast courage –boycotts, sit-ins, Freedom Rides, jail marches – dramatized by stunning forbearance and equilibrium into the jaws of hatred. During the short career of Martin Luther King, Jr., between 1954 and 1968, the nonviolent civil rights movement lifted the patriotic spirit of the United States toward our defining national purpose.”
Taylor Branch; At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68; Simon & Schuster; 2006.
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I like to think about different aspects of the meaning of Martin Luther King's life and death on this day. His assassination in Memphis in 1968 remains connected, to many forum members here, with the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy. And both Martin and Robert's deaths took place in that most turbulent of years, 1968.
There are literally dozens of books by and about King, or histories of the 1950s and '60s which include substantial sections about King, on the shelves around me. Today, I will re-read the third volume of Taylor Branch's outstanding history of “America in the King Years.” Other forum members who have read this important series will appreciate why I selected this book for today's reading. For those who have not read all three of the books, no matter if you were alive in that era or not, they are an intense history detailing how America was changed for the better by the peak years of the Civil Rights movement. The books also suggest options that remain available for further improvement towards the adoption of that orphan of democratic ideas.
One of the most important aspects of these books is the documentation of many of the other people who worked in the movement with King. Though he was a unique figure who played one of the most important roles in our nation's history, and his bravery in his willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for his beliefs is inspirational, they are best understood in the fuller context of the people and events which surrounded America's Moses, Martin Luther King, Jr. And more: it is actually only from that fuller contextual view that we may be able to move forward towards that higher ground he spoke of in his famous 1963 address in Washington, DC.
There have been, from time to time, a few threads on the Democratic Underground in which one can find acrimonious debate regarding the presidency of Barack Obama. That his election in 2008 was important in the context of that Civil Rights movement is clear. Two good books – Jonathan Alter's “The Promise” and David Remnick's “The Bridge” – make reference to President Obama's election as being part of the “Joshua generation.” Indeed, Remnick uses John Lewis's January 10, 2009 quote that “Barack Obama is what comes at the end of that bridge in Selma,” to open his book.
Yet, when we look at the people and current events in today's society, it is equally clear that while we may have safely crossed that Edmund Pettus Bridge, we still face the 54-mile hike to Montgomery. For we are still engaged in the foreign wars that King warned of in his April 4, 1967 speech, clear evidence that those making policy in Washington, DC, have not fully grasped the lessons of that war King spoke of in “Beyond Vietnam (A Time to Break Silence).” Racism is no longer limited in definition to black and white terms, but has become a multi-colored disease. Forms of sexism have mutated. And the economic inequalities continue to infect the American way of life.
In the months before King's death, there were some in the anti-war movement – including factions within the Democratic Party – who wanted King to consider running on a ticket to challenge President Lyndon B. Johnson. Some advocated his running on a third-party ticket with Dr. Benjamin Spock; others hoped that he would join forces with Senator Robert Kennedy in the democratic primaries. Those hopes were violently crushed, much like the original protesters attempting to cross that bridge in Selma.
Yet, as William Cullen Bryant said, and Martin often quoted, “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.” That powerful energy force that made the election of Barack Obama to the most important political office in our country in 2008 should not be viewed as somehow limited to President Obama, the individual. And it should not be allowed to be divided completely along fracture lines between those who see President Obama in an overwhelmingly favorable light; those who think he has done some good, but has much more to do; and those who feel that he has betrayed his promise. For we all inhabit this same land, and it requires our laboring towards those larger common goals we share, in order to reach the Promised Land of peace, equality, and justice that King lived and died for.
The most basic means of nonviolent democratic action is the vote. We may not always agree on which candidate we can or should vote for, and there are even times when people question if their vote counts. It does count, especially when combined with the votes of others who share common interests. The candidate you or I support may not always win; and if they do win, they may not always be able or willing to do what we expect them to. Yet our votes count.
When politicians appear unable or unwilling to do those things we believe are essential to bring about a just society, then we must advocate by means of those public demonstrations, sit-ins, protests, and marches to jail. We are responsible for trying our best to pressure those in political office to do the right thing. We have the tools required to carry on the same types of nonviolent social-political campaigns that those involved in the Civil Rights movement did.
And that, to me, is what this special day means.
Peace,
H2O Man
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