Every time I see those words, I think of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King jr. Gandhi was before my time but MLK was not. I studied Gandhi and how he took on one of the most powerful empires in the world and won. Comparing and contrasting the size of the two nations and the population size, I knew that wasn’t the reason. What did this wizened little man have that drove him to obtain freedom for his people?
It wasn’t his physical size. He grew more slender and frail with each hunger strike. Though he came from the Brahman class, he worked along side people from all classes. I think it was dogged determination and singleness of purpose. He couldn’t be scared off. He couldn’t be bought off. The only answer was to comply with his demands. The British empire caved in in the face of civil disobedience. The only way to get this annoying Hindi ‘fly’ out of their face was to pretend they had been at the point of granting freedom to the Indian people anyway. Martin Luther King shared some of the characteristics of Gandhi, whom he also studied. Single minded purpose and the determination to see it through.
What helped his cause was television. Night after night of seeing the skirmishes between the peaceful protesters and law enforcement would be forever burned into the minds of the average American. MLK was no fool. He knew the images of the KKK burning crosses, dogs turned loose on demonstrators and night sticks and fire hoses pushing them back would sear the conscious of those Americans who did believe in justice for all.
Most Americans believe it was LBJ who fought for the black people. Hardly! He might have been the one who signed the Civil Rights Bill, but it was the Kennedy brothers who started the process. Black people should never allow themselves to forget what LBJ said moments after he signed it. “I’ll have those niggers voting Democrat for the next 200 years.” Sounds like someone who really believed in their cause, doesn’t it?. The Kennedy’s, raised in wealth and privilege, I’m not sure they were even aware of how an entire race was treated as sub human animals.
Of course, there were blacks in the north, and there was prejudice, but they weren’t treated quite as brutally , especially if they stayed in their place! The Kennedy brothers were appalled at the violence in the south. Those pictures and the pleas and speeches of Dr. King hit them as hard as it did most of white America. But the whites were basically split into three groups. There were those, I believe, mostly poor whites who had no one else to look down on, then there were the ones who believed in King and joined in with his cause, and there were the whites who thought King was too radical. Surprisingly, about 50% of blacks were not behind King, fearing a white backlash because they couldn’t get to him so would settle for whatever black person they found to harass. I found it funny that Malcolm X thought King wasn’t radical enough.
MLK was counting on the reaction from all groups as those involved in the peaceful demonstrations, drank from the white’s only drinking fountain, sat at the lunch counter where only whites were allowed to eat and yes, Rosa Parks sitting in the front of the bus. These are all examples of civil disobedience. This is what it will take to free all people of every color from TPTB.
Once again, we vastly outnumber them. But, many are afraid of the consequences of such actions. Worse, many blacks hold positions of power and fame. This was no accident. One of the planks of these Elites is to allow or even encourage blacks to infiltrate sports and entertainment further. They had hoped to drive a wedge even deeper between the races. But a funny thing happened on the way to their victory. It seems like the majority of fans of all colors and ethnicities couldn’t care less what color the Dallas Cowboy quarterback is, for instance, as long as he plays an outstanding game. The same holds true for any area of life, any sport, any field of entertainment. However that is today. The world of the 1960’s was vastly different. It was a crazy time. Between June of 63 and June of 68, you were almost afraid to turn your television on.
Like Gandhi, anyone who stirs the pot, who disrupts the status quo, is asking for at least an attempt on their life. And that decade will stand as the strangest time. MLK was certainly stirring the pot. Just as Medgar Evers, President Kennedy, and Malcolm X had done. All paid with their life. Before the summer of 68 was over Bobby Kennedy would join them.
But King was an ordained minister, a man of God who preached non-violent civil disobedience. He was like an annoying fly that just wouldn’t go away. There were those who called King a communist, Jesse Helms was at the lead of that accusation. But I think King was too smart for that. King could be called a Social Democrat. He said that Capitalism didn’t work fairly across all ethnic groups. Which was true.
Representative John Conyers introduced the first motion to make King’s birthday a federal holiday. Just four days after King was assassinated in Memphis. It would be eleven more years before Representative Conyers proposal came up for a vote in 1979, during the Carter years. Jesse Helms squashed it every time. It would need a two thirds vote to pass. Only seventeen states adopted it at first. The state of Arizona lost their pro football team to Southern California because they refused to adopt it. Finally, in 1983, President Reagan signed it into law. In part thanks to King’s widow, Coretta Scott King and musician Stevie Wonder., one by one, states gave up the fight and accepted the day as a national holiday, North and South Carolina being, I believe, the last to sign on. I was shocked that an avowed racist like Strom Thurmond voted in favor of the bill.
There were both Democrats and Republicans in favor of the bill. But, the states with the most Southern Democrats fought the hardest to deep six the bill. Like Frederick Douglas said a hundred years earlier, “There is a reason I’m a Republican.” But, back to civil disobedience. This is what it will take to free all humanity of every color from The Powers That Be. If they can keep us with our noses to the grindstone, if they can keep us distracted with sports, entertainment, social media, then we won’t be paying attention to what they are doing to us.
Of course if that doesn’t work, they can always plan a world wide pandemic. Again, we are focused on what we are told by those in authority. Last week I was watching a special on China. One of their kiss-ass ‘brown shirts’ in a white hazmat suit was leading what appeared to be hundreds of people following him. Just one man. I thought, what is the matter with these people? How many people would it take to eliminate him? But that is not peaceful civil disobedience. Just stop following him. Turn around and go the other way. As I watched, I thought We need a Chinese Martin Luther King Jr. The people are ripe for change. For a leader to point the way.
We are now in the Age of Aquarius, a time when what has been hidden is now coming out. Today is a day to reflect on the difference and influence that one man had on a nation, on a society. As with the others listed that were assassinated that decade, even one person can make a difference, can change the course of a nation, of a society.
I believe that, like JFK, Martin knew it was just a matter of time before his enemies would strike him down, His part of a speech where he said, “I may not be with you in the promise land, but my eyes have seen the glory of the Lord.” Or words to that effect. Premonition? Maybe. Wherever he is now, I hope he can see the changes he brought about. More in Part Two
