Dr. Martin Luther King:
"I have been to the mountaintop. . . . And I've seen the promised land."
On this holiday I am reminded of the speech Dr. Martin Luther King gave the night before he was assassinated. He spoke to a crowd in Memphis. He concluded with words that are haunting in their prediction of early death. It is as if he knew he would be killed the next day. The speech has a "Last Supper" quality to its conclusion. A short life would serve the mission. He was content. A great sacrifice proves the value of what is sought. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
Dr. King said to the Memphis crowd:
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
We edit and transform history into useful myth. We agree that Dr. King represented racial equality, racial justice, non-violence. He was a Christian who used the tool of turn-the-other-cheek meekness to prod Americans into doing the right thing and grant Black Americans legal equality. We are OK with that.
But by 1968, his message was much broader. He was in Memphis in support of a strike for better pay for Memphis sanitation workers. Their job was dangerous; two men had recently been crushed and killed. The job paid just over minimum wage for long-term permanent employees: $1.60/hour for most workers, $1.90 for men who drove the trucks. (For comparison, I was earning $2.00/hour at the same time to vacuum floors in a part-time job at college.) The workers qualified for food stamps. Workers were expected to put in time "off the clock." There were both Black and White workers, but Black workers experienced worse working conditions than White workers. He was doing the gritty practical political work of coalition-building. He wanted Black churches to support the strike.
King's portfolio had grown to include economic justice. He led a "Poor People's Campaign." That brought new opposition to him and his mission. It is one thing to argue that Blacks should not be bitten by police dogs and beaten with clubs, but agitating for higher wages smacked of "communism" or "socialism." The year 1968 was the height of the Cold War. Dr. King said that the rich have unequal power and capitalism exploited that inequality. Unequal racial power and unequal economic power were two sides of the same coin.
King also became a peace advocate. He opposed the Vietnam War. He said our war there was a colonial war of exploitation and part of the greater system of inequality and violence by the strong against the weak. He spoke to the United Nations and said there was a "moral imperative" of both racial equality and "world brotherhood." It wasn't enough to stop fighting. We needed to have love and compassion for our enemies.
By 1968 King was articulating a broad critique of modern society. It was conspicuous for being both Christian and revolutionary. We were supposed to do the hard things, and do them in real life, not just as platitudes. We were supposed to love our neighbor, love the poor, care for the sick and hungry, and even love our enemies. "Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness," he said in that last Memphis speech. Like in the parable of the Good Samaritan on the road to Jericho, we see the man on the side of the road. Do the hard thing. Care for him.
Americans want to forget the mission of Dr. King's final years because much of it is inconvenient. Racial equality is hard enough, and after 55 years we still aren't there. Day to day economic, social, and political equality are too hard. Dr. King's message defies human nature. The rich man does not want to give it all to the poor to follow Christ or anyone else. The rich man says he earned it; that money is his. America has a capitalist economy and we operate a world empire that protects our safety, wealth, and way of life. We may pray to change that, but when we open our eyes we don't really want change. Otherwise we would do it. We can put Jesus in a mental category box of "religious." It is spiritual, not practical. But Dr. King was here and now, back in 1968. His message became too religious, too fundamental, too much like a day-to-day practical Jesus. We can't handle that, so we edit it out.
Thanks for this, we must remember the lesson that Dr, King taught us, to go forth and speak the truth is to risk all, a risk of a violent death.
I'm including a link here of the Phillip Glass work "Sataygraha". This tribute to Gandhi finishes with a reference to Dr. King. The whole opera is not to be missed, especially on this most important day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCGmbzRz9Ws
All the Best,
Jim Akins
wow.... thank you for the reminder.... wish he was alive and well today saying the same wonderful words and thoughts....
greeley