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