Page 6 -T h e Portland Observer -January 23,1991
Civil Rights?
K
IB*
by Benjamin Chavis, Jr.
The Truth Of Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.and
the Soviet Jewry Movement
5Y MARTIN HOnWR
a i im d
u n
BY
HOCHBAUM,
PH.D.,
. .
. .
prived Jewish communal life of ele­
Director Commission on National Af­ mentary needs required to sustain even
fairs. American Jewish Congress
a modest existence. He admonished his
fellow Americans not to “ sit com­
As record numbers of Soviet Jews placently by the wayside” while their
continue to pour into Israel. Jews in Jewish brothers and sisters in die Soviet
particular have reason to join in the Union faced the possible dissolution of
celebrations o f Martin Luther King, Jr. their spiritual and cultural life.
Day. For it should be recalled that Dr.
By remarks such as these, Dr. King
King, the supreme voice of the civil-
helped play a significant role in legiti­
rights movement in the United States,
mating the effort to alleviate the plight
was also an early and influential sup­ of Soviet Jew s-in moving it from the
porter ot the Soviet Jewry movement, fringes of our society's concerns to the
the effort to achieve human rights, center. He thus made it acceptable for
including the right o f emigration, for many people with diverse backgrounds
the more than two million Jews living to support this movement at a time when
in the USSR.
general endorsement by American soci­
We are confident that the climac­ ety was either lacking or uncertain.
tic successes of this m ovem ent-the
In retrospect, Dr. King’s adoption
move to Israel of 200,000 Soviet Jews o f the cause of Soviet Jewry is not sur­
in 1990 and the even greater number prising, given his belief that the free­
anticipated in 1991--would have brought dom of Blacks was inextricably tied to
considerable gratification to Dr. King. the universal right of all groups to be
So too would the fact that for the first free from discrimination and oppres­
ume in three generations, Jews in the sion. This belief, exemplified by Dr.
Soviet Union are being allowed to teach King ’scxtraordinary leadership, was in­
Hebrew to their children, create their strumental in the shaping of the dose re­
own art torms, develop their own cul­ lationship between blacks and Jews that
ture and establish Jewish communal developed during the King years, a close­
bodies.
ness that included cooperation in cam­
From virtually the very beginning paigns to end discrimination in employ­
of the movement to free Soviet Jews in ment and housing and to improve edu­
the 1960’s, Martin Luther King, Jr. was cational opportunities.
a major advocate on their behalf. Twenty-
In fact, Dr. King was the embodi­
five years ago this month, he publicly ment of this cooperation. Ten years before
sought support for the reestablishment his 1968 death, he enunciated the basis
of the “ religious and cultural freedom” of the natural relationship between the
of the Soviet Jewish community. He Black and Jewish communities. Blacks
went on to “ urge that the Soviet gov­ and Jews, he said, shared an “ inde­
ernment end all the discriminatory meas­ scribably important destiny to com­
ures against the Jewish community.”
plete a process of democratization...
The next year Dr. King addressed which is our most powerful weapon for
by telephone hook-up dozens of Soviet world emulation.”
Jewry Human Rights Rallies across the
Surely, as we ponder the message
United States.
ol Martin Luther King’s life and work,
In his compelling remarks he indi­ we must come tu realize that it is again
cated that the Soviet government de­ time for both groups to return to the
effort.
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,
Jefferson Students Honor
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sharon Mitchell, anchorwoman of Channel 8
A tribute to Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. took place
Monday, January 21,1991 at the Jeffer­
son High School Performing Arts Cen­
ter.
Entitled "Keep Living the
Dream: A Tribute to R» verend Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr." ìb is tribute
was welcomed by die community as a
sincere effort to heighten awareness of
Dr. King and the national holiday es­
tablished in this honor.
The program provided
"Non-violence is the answer
to crucial political and
moral questions o f our time;
the need fo r man to
overcome oppression and
violence without resorting
to oppression and violence.”
"Man must evolve fo r all
human conflict a method
which rejects revenge,
aggression and retaliation.
The foundation o f such a
method is love.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
NORTHWEST NATURAL GAS
opportunity for students of Portland
Public Schools and the community to
participate in a significant cultural en­
richment community activity. It’s ob­
jective is to foster greater understand­
ing of cultural diversity through music,
performing arts, dramatic and speech
presentation.
Program content included
Portland area students and a number o
prominent local and slate citizens all
reflecting on the importance of living
the dream.
There is no better way for tlte people
of the world community to remember
and to pay tribute to the living legacy of
Marlin Luther King, Jr., than listening
again to the truth of Dr. King’s ex­
pressed opposition to U.S. war-making
policies. Today, as thousands of armed
forces are caught in a geo-political
conflict of the Persian Gulf crisis, the
words of Dr. King still ring loud and
clear.
While we have already gone on
record in expressing our opposition to
war in the Persian Gulf, it is important
that we continue to speak out against
any attempt to justify war for the sake
of the control of oil.
As Dr. King expressed his opposi­
tion to the Vietnam War, we must be
just as vigilant to express our opposi­
tion to the Persian Gulf War. It was on
April 4, 1967, one year to the day be­
fore his tragic assassination, when Dr.
King delivered his famous sermon at
Riverside Church in New York City.
For Dr. King, this was the time to
"break the silence.’
We believe it is important for you
to hear these particular s.ords of Dr.
King once again. Dr. King emphasized,
“ There is at the outset a very obvious
and almost facile connection between
the war in Vietnam and the struggle I,
and others have been waging in
America...It seems as if there was a real
promise of hope for the poor-both black
and white-through the poverty pro­
gram. Then came the buildup in Viet­
nam and I watched the program broken
and eviscertaed as if it were some idle
political plaything as a society gone
mad on war, and I knew that America
would never invest the necessary funds
or energies in rehabilitation of its poor
so long as adventures like Vietnam
continued to draw men and skills and
money like some demonic destructive
suction tube. So I was increasingly
compelled to see the war as an enemy
of the poor and attack it as such.”
Dr. King continued, “ Perhaps the
more tragic recognition of reality took
place when it became clear to me that
the war was doing far more than devas­
tating the hopes of the poor at home. It
was sending their sons and their broth­
ers and their husbands to fight and die
in extraordinary high proportions rela­
tive to the rest of the population. We
were taking the black young men who
had been crippled by our society and
sending them eight thousand miles away
to guarantee the liberties of Southeast
Asia which they had not found in south­
west Georgia and east Harlem.”
Dr. King further said, “ We must
find new ways to speak for peace in
Vietnam and justice throughout the
developing world. If we do not act we
shall surely be dragged down the long
dark and shameful corridors of time
reserved for those who possess power
without compassion, might without mo­
rality, and strength without sight...The
choice is ours, and though we might
prefer it otherwise we must choose in
this crucial moment of human history. ’ ’
O f course, Dr. King made the choice to
demand peace and justice.
Now a quarter of a century later,
the people of the United States are
called again to make a choice between
war and peace, between injustice and
justice, and between immorality and
morality. Today, there is a real connec­
tion between the U.S. military buildup
in the Persian Gulf and the deteriorat­
ing social and economic circumstances
of the nation’s poor and oppressed.
Disproportionately African Americans
are once again on the front lines of an
immoral war situation.
We are grateful that there appears
to be a growing “ peace and justice”
movement evolving across the nation.
Yet timing is critical. We need more
voices and we need more persons of
good will to choose peace and not war. ’
As Dr. King challenged President
Johnson and all of those who were in
the choir singing war anthems, we need
to challenge President Bush and all of
those in the Congress and other places
who are singing the same war songs.
“ Bring the troops home now!”
“ No blood for oil! ” * ‘Peace and justice
in the Middle East!” These should be
our chants today. Dr. King’s truth
* ‘crushed to the earth, shall rise again. ’ ’