Letter To The Editor: More Than A Day Off: Reflecting On Dr. King In 2023

This Martin Luther King Day, volunteers will plant gardens and lines from the “I Have A Dream Speech” will flood the internet. Politicians will rush to put Dr. King on their side. But despite the holiday, most people probably have never read an entire King speech.

In a 1966 Gallup Poll, 63% of Americans gave him an unfavorable rating. That same poll had 39% of Americans giving him a rating of -5, which was the lowest possible, with +5 being the highest possible rating. At the time, King was moving his emphasis toward
Northern Cities, and eventually against the Vietnam War. Expanding the Civil Rights movement made him even more unpopular.

Efforts to include working class whites in addressing economic issues was part of a broader justice. However, his lunch counter reference “What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn’t earn enough money to buy a
hamburger and a cup of coffee?” (Mason Temple March 1968) connected race, the original lunch counter sin, with larger systemic poverty issues. He argued that Capitalism was built on the exploitation of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad. (The Three Evils speech 1967) In addition, his status as a Baptist Minister didn’t always win religious support.

Prior to the rise of The Moral Majority in the late 1970’s, The Reverend Jerry Fallwell proclaimed “If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made…The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line. The true Negro does not want integration… He realizes his potential is far better among his own race.” Falwell went on to announce that integration “will destroy our race eventually.

In one northern city a pastor friend of mine tells me that a couple of opposite race live next door to his church as man and wife.” (Sermon – Segregation or Integration, Which?) Those weren’t just fringe references from someone with no influence. Falwell went on to found the Moral Majority, which was instrumental in electing Ronald Reagan.

The noticeable growth of Christian schools after 1954 and Brown vs The Board of Education was much more than just a movement of parents who wanted more of a Biblical emphasis in their children’s learning. A Christian school in Raleigh now lists on their web site the following words “We are grieved that the school which subsequently became (name withheld) was founded in 1966 by a group opposed to the integration of public schools. This was wrong and does not represent the Biblical values that define us and the culture we have worked hard to create over the past several decades…We are blessed as our school family becomes more diverse.”

This sort of statement is honest and diverges from the institution’s founders. This statement moves forward while admitting what has been inherited. The appearance of the formal, churched Civil Rights Protestors, showed a desire to appear as professional and be as non violent as possible. However, Dr. King did speak of riots, specifically “It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear?” (The Other America 1968)

Such a statement is unnerving and yet in the context of the whole speech it is clear that Dr. King is speaking for those who are at the point of desperation. A well known meme which will doubtless reappear this MLK Day will say that Dr. King never looted, rioted or burned anything and still changed the world. Isn’t it obvious that Dr. King’s words implore us as a society to listen to those most marginalized? That is radically different from the sort of misappropriated image and generalizations found online.

For a few years I taught several of Dr. King’s speeches and sermons to seniors in high school. Their initial eye rolls, and assumptions turned into curiosity and surprise at what was actually being stated and argued. Some agreed, some disagreed and all were affected. After being moved to another grade, the latest wave of books about racism became an option instead of reading the works of Dr. King. This left me with a sense of sadness that one more chance to actually read or listen to the man’s words was being lost. Not knowing the original words leaves more room for misinterpretation.

When the controversy over the book Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism and You reached a boiling point I did what I do with books in question, I read it. Some things in the book were helpful, even profound. Other parts were problematic. One in particular was putting Dr. King in the category of an assimilationist. Considering Dr. King was imprisoned 29 times and was roughed up by police and eventually assassinated, it’s really hard to see him as someone trying to gain the approval of his society.

Honor is not given to a prophet in his hometown. Reading his words, not just internet quips gives us a better chance of understanding the significance of Dr. King then, now and moving forward.

John Cabascango is the author of Off the Rails: Evangelicals, Power and Politics, Throwing Moses Under the bus: A High School English Teacher Looks at the Ten Commandments