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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1982)
He lived his philosophy Grassroot News. N . W'.— School Board member and educator H erb Cawthorne made cultural history in Portland with his oral history, using the words and works o f D r. M artin Luther King. Jr. “ I felt that during the last years o f his life, the dynamics in the Black community led to a misunderstand ing o f K in g ’ s philosophy. Some d id n ’ t realize how far out on the front lines King was. He has a belief in nonviolence and the C h ristian Ethic. I f you were to compare him to M alcolm X or any other leader who had stronger statements, King nevertheless made the ‘out in the streets and down in the a lle y ’ changes. Becaue we got intellectual ly confused about K in g ’s philoso phy vs. his actions we began to think that King’s method would not work. A lso, his m ethod o f nonviolence d id n ’ t give us a means to react to white violence. W ith my oral history I wanted to rekindle a sense o f his philosophy and beliefs.” Herb goes on to add that someone needed to remind people that King worked out o f the context o f his re ligious beliefs. “ There are over 22 million Black people in the church. There were many ministers who had no social o b lig atio n , nor did they encourage th e ir congregations to fight for a better life on earth. They were told to wait until they got to heaven. King didn’t do this and that was one o f the main reasons why I picked him .” King was a minister. Is that why the people ti usted him? “ Being a minister helped him in terms o f appealing to the m iddle class, but I think he was the right man at the right time. People were just tire d . T he spirit o f the times was right for him. “ T h e key fac to r was that King went out in to the streets. H e was willing to put himself on the line and you found people w illin g to go to Selma from P o rtlan d just to hear him speak. H e gave a sense o f strength to people who were engag ing in actions that they hadn’t since the reconstruction. The Black com munity had never been that unified behind fighting for social change. King set the stage.” C aw th o rn e believes that many others followed the steps formed by M a rtin K in g . “ M a lc o lm X took King’s philosophy and went further. The Black Panthers too k M a rtin Luther King’s progressive challenge and went further. But it was King that set the basis for many organiza tions in the 1960s.” H o w does C aw th o rn e perceive K in g ’ s non vio len t policies? “ H is nonviolent philosophy was both re ligious and p ractical. H is under standing o f nonviolence was rooted in G a n d h i’ s n onviolent policies. This is suffering injustices to your self but you don’ t allow the injust ices that you suffer to tu rn you around so that you commit the same injustices to someone else. This was the religious base o f King. “ H e knew i f Black people went out there with guns and attacked if they were p ro vo ked , whites who were willing to attack them anyway would just have more amm unition to fig h t us w ith . N o w , even w ith nonviolence there were some who were killed, had their homes burned and were beaten. But King’s policies minimized the violence. It created a moral crisis for the whole country. This was the practical side o f King’s philosophy.” I t ’s been 12 years since King’s de parture. W hat perspective should we place him in? “ K ing was the greatest Black leader o f this century. Greater than Malcolm X because his words and works brought forth a greater contribution. I believe that when M alcolm was killed he began to incorpo rate m ore and m ore o f King’s philosophy. K ing always spoke in strong terms. But he couched it in Christi anity and flowery words. He had a philsosophy that he lived. M an y Blacks turned their backs on King because they disagreed with an ele ment o f that philosophy. His move ment is the basis fo r all protest movements in this country. A n ti war, women’s rights and in the la bor movement. King should never be forgotten. He gave his life so that we could live.” His dream w ill never die A ll Am ericans g a in . . . N E W Y O R K — “ As the years go by, the figure o f Dr. M artin Luther King looms ever larger as one o f the great men o f American history,’ * H ow ard M . Squadron, president o f the American Jewish Congress, said this week in a tribute to the slain human rights leader on what would have been his 53rd birthday. Recalling “ the close ties o f friendship and respect” between the Congress and D r. King, M r. Squadron declared: “ A ll Americans gained from the vision and the courage o f this great American. “ He was, o f course, the leader o f the great struggle of A m erica’s Black people for the political and economic justice too long de nied them. But he was also an eloquent spokesman and organizer in the cause o f peace— in V ie tn a m , in the M id d le East, wherever there was war and carnage. He gave pow erful support to Soviet Jew ry’ s struggle to be free. He labored for the right o f men and women to organize and win a de cent living wage. “ M a rtin L u th er K ing was a giant who gave his life for human dignity and human freedom . Along w ith Am ericans o f every race and religion, Jews mark his birthday as a day for rededicating ourselves to the causes for which he gave his great spirit, his loving heart, his very life.’ ’ M r. Squadron recalled that D r. King had addressed the national convention o f the American Jewish Congress in 1958 in Miami Beach, F la., marking the first time a Black leader had spoken before a white audience in Florida. In 1962 D r. King received the Ste phen S. Wise Award o f the American Jewish Congress at a meeting in New York. In 1963, at the March on Washington led by Dr. King, the then-president o f the Amer ican Jewish Congress— Rabbi Joachim Prinz — was one o f the 10 national chairmen o f the event who addressed the throng o f 250,000 persons from the steps o f the Lincoln Memo rial. G rassroot News, N . W. — Rcv. John Jackson, a fellow Baptist min ister, personally knew King. He talks about the kind o f man King was. “ K ing was very modest and not pushy at all. He never let you know who he was in terms o f making de mands. 1 remember once when we were at a convention. W e were ready to leave and the plane could only seat 12. There were 13 o f us and the plane had this little seat that they could pull dow n. N ow King had just finished a conversation with Richard N ixon and he waited un til all those people got on that plane. King rode in that little seat. T h at characterized the kind o f fellow King was. I spent time with King and you wouldn't know he was who he was unless you asked him. And that’s not characteristic o f us. "N o w when the Montgomery bus boycott was happening King was the secretary. The reason why he got to speak on the subject is because he took the m inutes. T h at kind o f humbleness would be the thing to say about the person who achieved the kinds o f things King achieved. What kind o f effect did King have on the Black Church? " In the begin ning King was a conservative. But as he moved about he became more so c ial-m in d e d . Once when we were you w ould ju st look at the way traveling King told me that he lost A ndy Young got elected in Atlanta his position as head o f our Sunday he got elected throu g h methods School Congress because he and the King used. I f you trace many promi President couldn’t see eye to eye. So nent people back to the South they K ing, along w ith his fath er, came learned how to be known in the pub over to American Baptist. lic when they were K ing’s Lieuten “ I f you were to narro w down ants." King learned these methods what M artin King did for the Black from Gandhi in India. Church you would have to say that Rev. Jacksor. doesn’t believe that he made the C hurch m ore social- K in g ’ s philosophy was changing; m inded. A n d he made the Blacks rather. King was pushed into certain aware o f the fact that you can have things. “ In order for King to stay on an earned Ph.D . and be accepted as top he was pushed into changing his a preacher. It used to be said that if d ire ctio n . H e was being pushed you had too much education you away from nonviolence. I don’t sec d id n ’ t have s p irit. D r. M a rlin - ' how he could have m aintained his Luther King turned that all around. leadership without taking on what Many men who are popular social these other fellows wanted to do.” advocates today owe their charisma W h at should we rem em ber the to Dr. King. "D uring King’s time he Rev. D r. M a rtin Luther King for? was offered many honorable posts. " I think the dream o f Rev. King will He turned it all down. It was said never die. It will live forever because that he was making between seventy o f what was said in it. T he letter and eighty thousand dollars speak written from a Birmingham jail will ing. Men like A ndrew Young and also be remembered. That was when Jessie Jackson were involved in the he asked when do you go against the SC LC (Southern Christian Leader government. When do you seek to ship C onference). King turned all try to change what the government his money over to the SCLC to keep is doing. That is, go against the sta those men on. It helped pay the sal tus quo. Those are two things that ary o f many o f these fellows. It gave w ill never grow old . As tim e goes time to these men so that they could on, they will become more im port learn to function in a political way. If ant.” "A ll men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be." —Martin Luther King, Jr. Wacker Siltronic Corporation 7200 N.W . Front Portland Observer, January 21, 1982 Section II Page 11
