The White Falcon - 11.01.1980, Page 5

January 11, 1980
The White Falcon
Page 5
Martin Luther King, Jr.
His spirit lives on
WASHINGTON (NES)—On Wednesday the
nation will observe the anniversary
of the birthdate of the Reverend
Martin Luther King Jr. King was a
quiet, peaceful man—a minister who
was catapulted into national and
world prominence by events that were
taking place around him and by a
conscience that would not let him
stand idly by. It is appropriate
that at this time we review the ac-
complishments of this religious man
who was to stir a nation from its
lethargy and who would die violently
a martyr in the cause of human civil
rights.
When black America ran out of
patience, reared up and roared for
"Action Now" the majority of white
America was unprepared for it—es-
pecially in the 50s and 60s. It
wasn't uncommon to hear whites say-
ing "They're pushing too hard, for
too much, too soon. Why do they
want it all right now; why can't
they work it out through the courts
instead of the streets?"
There were answers to these ques-
tions , answers that went, for the
most part, unheeded. A number of
black leaders tried to explain to
their white countrymen why black
Americans were so restive. One of
the nation's greatest black leaders,
to emerge during this time was a
quiet man, a pastor, who at first
spoke from his pulpit—the Reverend
Martin Luther King Jr.:
"We have waited for more than 340
years for our constitutional and
God-given rights. The nations of
Asia and Africa are moving with jet-
like speed toward the goal of pol-
itical independence and we still
creep at a horse-and-buggy pace,
toward the gaining of a cup of cof-
fee at a lunch counter. I guess it
is easy for those who have never
felt the stinging darts of segrega-
tion to say 'wait'."
Martin Luther King Jr. was born
in Atlanta on Jan. 15, 1929. It did
not take long for the shy, sensitive
child to discover the black's plight
in the deep south. Though subjected
to the indignities common to that
place and time he continued to shy
away from violence and maintained a
feeling of Christian charity. In
his college years he would become a
disciple of Mohandas K. Gandhi's
concept of non-violence.
Upon graduation from Boston Uni-
versity, King took up the ministry
in Montgomery, Ala. His oratory at
the pulpit soon stroked the fire of
hope in his parishioners, who had,
for years, accepted white domination
as a way of life. It didn't take
long for the white population to
take notice of him and to instigate
violent incidents. Then in December
1955, a seemingly insignificant in-
cident took place that was to spark
the black revolution, Seamstress,
Rosa Parks refused to give up her
seat on a city bus to a white pas-
senger.
There followed a year-long boy-
cott of the bus line, organized by
blacks of the newly formed Montgom-
ery Improvement Association. Though
reluctant to accept the post because
he was relatively new to the city,
King was named President of the as-
sociation. After a year of violence
on the part of segregationist whites
and steadfast adherence to King's
non-violent principles by his fol-
lowers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
against Jim Crow seating in public
transportation. King had fought and
destroyed the system that "gave the
segregator a false sense of super-
iority and the segregated a false
sense of inferiority.
As he steadily grew more active
and gained prominence in the fight
for equality, King continued exhor-
ting black Americans to adopt non-
violence as their exclusive form of
social protest.
King was now the guiding light in
the black revolution for justice and
equality—he was the right man, in
the right place at the right time.
His work would earn him praise,
criticism and physical injuries as
well as the Nobel Prize.
After the successful boycott
against the bus line, King attempted
to resume his private life and min-
istry. But the spirit of the revo-
lution had spread throughout the
south and King soon found himself
again on the front, issuing a call
to southern black leaders to meet
with him to coordinate the many pro-
test groups that were making them-
selves felt. This meeting became
the first meeting of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC). King was chosen as presi-
dent of the SCLC, designed to coor-
dinate all civil rights organiza-
tions.
King's next target was southern
segregation of public snack bars,
facilities and stores. Again, the
road to victory was paved with viol-
ence and sacrifice. But King and
the nation saw the enactment of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964. Next his
campaign for black voter registra-
tion brought about the 1965 Voting
Rights Act.
Up to this point he had been
fighting open segregation in the
South. It was now time to look
north of the Mason-Dixon Line, to
black unemployment, housing and
school segregation and slums.
King's non-violent forces were
met with such violence that he was
moved to comment after one confron-
tation in Chicago during which he
was injured. "I have seen many dem-
onstrations in the South, but I have
never seen any so hostile and so
hateful as I have seen here today."
This only served to strengthen
his resolve. His thoughts at the
time turned to the Vietnam War—he
opposed it and made his stand on the
issue clear. Now, in addition to
his work in civil rights, he began
a campaign against the war.
King left the North briefly in
March 1968, when black saniation
workers in Memphis, Tenn., left
their jobs in a dispute over wages.
He went to aid them in their pro-
test.
A march organized by King through
the streets of Memphis was turned
into a bloody riot by young black
militants who saw non-violance as
too slow a solution. Sixty-two per-
sons were injured, 200 arrested and
a 16-year-old black lay dead. King
was crestfallen.
He decided to try again. On
April 4, 1968, King spent the day
in a second floor motel room plan-
ning for the march. Later in the
afternoon he left his room and stood
on the balcony overlooking the motel
court.
He was talking to Jesse Jackson,
an aide, and Ben Branch, a musician,
who was to play at the rally. A
shot rang out; Dr. King fell. With-
in minutes the Reverend Martin Lu-
ther King Jr. was dead.
By JOC Dan Guzman