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