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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2019)
Page 8 The Skanner Portland & Seattle January 16, 2019 Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. GERRY LAUZON, CC BY What Would MLK Do If He Were Alive Today: Six Essential Reads A protest following the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. Kalpana Jain The Conversation arch 21 marked the anniversary of the third pro- test march from Selma led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that cul- minated on the steps of the Capitol in Montgom- ery, Alabama, demand- ing voting rights for Af- rican Americans. As doctoral candidate at University of Califor- nia, Irvine, Mary Schmitt explains, Selma was “a M moment in civil rights history that played a cru- cial role in the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.” The first march start- ed on March 7, 1965, but ended in violence. The second march started on March 9. The third march started on March 21, with 3,200 people under the protection of federal troops. By the time the marchers reach the state Capitol in Montgom- ery on March 25, their numbers had swelled to 25,000. Scholars writing for The Conversation have emphasized the rele- vance of King’s nonvi- olent — and successful — resistance movement today. Here are some high- lights from The Conver- sation’s coverage. America’s crisis today In considering the im- portance of looking to the past for role models among black leaders, Bowdoin College histori- an Brian J. Purnell points to the many problems in American cities in the 21st century and how they have led to the emer- gence of different forms of protest. “The cost of living in American cities rises each year while for de- cades wages for working people have flat-lined. Public schools in cities like New York City and Philadelphia are now more racially segregat- ed than they were in the 1960s. The Supreme Court has limited poli- cies that promoted affir- mative action and voting rights.” Purnell highlights the “Black Lives Matter” movement: “Like the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, today’s lead- ers are fighting for Afri- can-Americans’ human and civil rights.” There is also, since November 2016, “a wide- spread and resolute dis- content with the election of President Trump,” as Managing Director of the McCourtney Institute of Democracy, Pennsyl- vania State University, Christopher Beem, puts it. Many protesters, he says, want to “resist” and “to stop what they see as his degradation of our democracy.” What can the protest- ers learn from King’s vi- sion? ‘All men are created equal’ King’s vision was to build a more inclusive and just community. As Beem writes, “At the very core of the Declaration of Indepen- dence and thus at the cen- See READS on page 11 Radical cont’d from pg 7 In a stark change from his earlier views, King devastat- ingly targeted White moderates willing to settle for “order” over justice. In an oppres- sive environment, the avoidance of con- flict might appear to be “order,” but in fact supported the denial of basic citizenship rights, he noted. “We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive,” King wrote. He argued how oppressors never voluntarily gave up freedom to the op- pressed – it always had to be demanded by “extrem- ists for justice.” He wrote how he was “gravely disappointed with the White moderate … who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom.” They were, he said, a greater enemy to racial justice than were mem- bers of the White su- premacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other white racist radi- cals. Call for economic justice By 1967, King’s philos- ophy emphasized eco- nomic justice as essen- tial to equality. And he made clear connections between American vio- lence abroad in Vietnam and American social in- equality at home. Exactly one year be- fore his assassination in Memphis, King stood at one of the best-known pulpits in the nation, at Riverside Church in New York. There, he explained how he had come to con- nect the struggle for civil rights with the fight for economic justice and the early protests against the Vietnam War. He proclaimed: “Now it should be in- candescently clear that no one who has any con- cern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read ‘Vietnam.’ It can never be saved so long as it de- stroys the hopes of men the world over.” He angered crucial al- lies. King and President Lyndon Johnson, for ex- ample, had been allies in achieving significant leg- islative victories in 1964 and 1965. Johnson’s “Great Soci- ety” launched a series of initiatives to address is- sues of poverty at home. But beginning in 1965, after the Johnson admin- istration increased the number of U.S. troops deployed in Vietnam, King’s vision grew radi- cal. King continued with a searching analysis of what linked poverty and violence both at home and abroad. While he had spoken out before about the effects of colo- nialism, he now made the connection unmistak- ably clear. He said: “I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor in America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in Vietnam.” King concluded with the famous words on “the fierce urgency of now,” by which he emphasized the immediacy of the connection between eco- nomic injustice and ra- cial inequality. The radical King King’s “I Have a Dream,” speech at the March on Washington in August 1963 serves as the touchstone for the annual King holiday. But King’s dream ultimately evolved into a call for a fundamental redistribu- tion of economic power and resources. It’s why he was in Mem- phis, supporting a strike by garbage workers, when he was assassinat- ed in April 1968. He remained, to the end, the prophet of non- violent resistance. But these three key moments in King’s life show his evolution over a decade. This remembering matters more than ever today. Many states are either passing or considering measures that would make it harder for many Americans to exercise their fundamental right to vote. It would roll back the huge gains in rates of po- litical participation by racial minorities made possible by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. At the same time, there is a persistent wealth gap between blacks and whites. Only sustained govern- ment attention can ad- dress these issues – the point King was stressing later in his life. King’s philosophy stood not just for “oppor- tunity,” but for positive measures toward eco- nomic equality and polit- ical power. Ignoring this understanding betrays the “dream” that is ritual- ly invoked each year. Paul Harvey is arofessor of American History at the University of Colora- do. Harvey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organi- zation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affil- iations beyond their aca- demic appointment.
