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Martin Luther King Jr.
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The man, the myth and the legacy
By TahirahWorks
Contributing Writer
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Martin Luther King Jr., a
militant?
That Is hardly the legacy
or popular Image of the civil
rights leader, who was as
sassinated 25 years ago.
Indeed, most Americans
know Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. as a peaceful, pious
man whose courageous
struggle for Interracial har
mony was eloquently ex
pressed in his Impassioned
and oft-repeated “I Have a
Dream” speech.
Few Americans, however,
view King as a radical—an
uncompromising proponent
of economic reform, who in
his later years expanded his
focus from civil rights to
economic rights and a vehe
ment opposition to the Viet
nam War.
With increasing intensity
and force, he spoke out
against economic exploita
tion.
It is symbolic that King
was killed while in Mem
phis, speaking on behalf of
striking garbage workers.
Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., militant?
“He was always that,”
says Claybome Carson, pro
fessor of history at Stanford
University and director of
the MLK Papers Project,
which collects and analyzes
King’s written and published
works.
“To some degree, one of
the prices of the national
holiday is that to get the
holiday, the more radical
aspects of King had to be
played down,” Carson says.
“It was obvious to the pro
ponents of his holiday that
the part of King that sym
bolized civil rights reform
was the part that had the
broadest popular support.”
“The part of him that sym
bolized things that still have
not been achieved like elimi
nation of poverty—did not
have that kind of support.
So the part of his life through
the awarding of the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1964 is em
phasized. The part of his
life after that is played
down.”
Carson believes that this
“sanitized” and incomplete
picture of King is dangerous
because his philosophy and
activism loses its relevance,
particularly to young people.
“The civil rights agenda
always was just part of his
agenda. He was always con
cerned about economic
change,” says Carson. “He
was always concerned about
international issues and the
liberation of Africa. He was
communicating with leaders
of South Africa in the '50’s.
He was speaking out against
economic injustices during
his college years.”
Though a pacifist and
preacher of brotherly love,
King boldly confronted the
economic policies of America,
says historians. Part of his
strong opposition to the Viet
nam War was because it was
siphoning off resources
needed for social programs
to help the poor.
The economic thrust in
King’s final years is evident
by his “Poor People’s Cam
paign” that expanded his
movement to include all eco
nomically deprived people of
all races, in America and
abroad. During this time he
also proposed a “Bill of Rights
for the Disadvantaged and a
Guarantee National Income,”
writes Alex Ayers in the book
“The Wisdom of Martin
Luther King Jr.”
But these concerns with
economic issues originated
late in King’s life. In his book
“Strength To Love, ” published
in 1963, King wrote that “the
inseparable twin of racial in
justice is economic injustice.”
And as early as 15 years of
age, King eloquently assailed
American economic interests,
which he felt were at the root
of segregation.
At 15, he wrote a letter to
the editor of the Atlanta Con
stitution. Itwas entitled “Kick
up the Dust.”
“We want and are entitled
to the basic rights and op
portunities of American citi
zens: the right to earn a living
at work for which we are fit
ted by training and ability;
equal opportunity in educa
tion, health, recreation, and
similar public services; the
right to vote; equality before
the law; some of the same
courtesy and good manners
that we ourselves bring to all
human relations.”
Carson says, “The tone of
its insistence and the vision
of change. It was all there
from the beginning.”
King’s commitment is re
vealed in his forceful anti-
Vietnam War speech given
at the Riverside Church in
New York on April 4, 1967.
“I knew that I could
never again raise m y
v oice against the
violence of the op
pressed in the
ghettos without
having first spo
ken clearly to the
greatest pur
veyor of violence
in the world to
day: my own gov
ernment.”
After this speech, King
was sharply criticized. Life
magazine referred to his anti
war sermon as "demagogic
slander.” Other editorials in
newspapers across the coun
try predicted that the speech
would turn the public’s sen
timents against him, writes
Ayers.
Some civil rights leaders
felt he was wrong to connect
the civil rights movement
with the anti-war movement.
Others used his statements
to bolster their argument
that he was a Communist,
writes James Haskins in his
book, “The Life and Death of
Martin Luther King Jr.”
But King publicly criticized
the disproportionate number
of African Americans and poor
people who were being drafted
and dying in Vietnam, ex
panding his non-violent
philosophy and human
rights struggle beyond Afri
can Americans to the cause
of world peace.
Despite threats of death
and public humiliation, King
announced a nationwide
campaign to collect signa
tures for a petition to call a
referendum on the question
of American involvement in
the Vietnam War.
King’s anti-war pro
nouncements at rallies
across the nation mobilized
large numbers of white stu
dents. And his plan to con
duct the 1968 “Poor People’s
Campaign” enlisted the sup
port of many previously out
side of the civil rights move
ment.
But King never made it to
his “Poor People’s March” on
Washington. He was assas
sinated three months before
it was to take place on June
23. Without him, it fizzled
out in controversy and rainy
weather.
In his book “The FBI and
Martin Luther King Jr.,”
David Garrow writes that the
FBI’s response to King’s po
sition on the Vietnam War
and the “Poor People’s Cam
paign” intensified their sur
veillance of him and rang a
bell of alarm in the White
House.
“In the last 12 months of
his life King represented a
far greater political threat to
the reigning American gov
ernment than he ever had
before,” writes Garrow.
Undaunted by FBI chief
J. Edgar Hoovers obsession
with discrediting him, King
continued, deeply rooted in
his commitment to freedom
from poverty and economic
exploitation for all people.
“No man is free if he fears
death, “King told a Birming
ham crowd at a rally on May
3, 1963. “But the minute you
conquer the fear of death, at
that moment you are free....I
cannot worry about my safety.
I cannot live in fear. I have to
function. If there is one fear I
have conquered it is the fear
of death.”
Martin Luther King was
assassinated 2 5 years ago this
month.
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