“Where Do We Go from Here”
A Martin Luther King, Jr.
by Reverend Charles Blustein Ortman
January 15, 2006
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? was the last book written and published by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. before his death in 1968. It was a powerful assessment of the nation and the state of the civil rights movement at that time. It also provided a potent prescription for the future course of the movement, if our nation and our world were ever to be freed from the scourges of racism. Nearly 40 years later, we are still a long way off from accomplishing that cure. Sadly, many of Dr. King’s assessments continue to ring true and – we might pray – that it is not yet too late for his remedies to be successfully applied and accomplished.
His assessment included the recognition that great legal gains had been achieved through the nonviolent, broad coalition of civil rights workers who had participated in actions of solidarity and strength in speaking truth to power until power had recognized the need for change. Laws did change and discrimination became, though not a thing of the past, at least an illegal activity with potential consequences.
What Dr. King then had to accept, was that the end of discrimination was only a next step in bringing about an end to racism. Achieving the vote and gaining a legal right to equal access of the justice, educational and commercial systems of our country in no way guaranteed adequate representation by elected officials, a fair shake in skirmishes with the legal system, equivalent educational opportunities, or financial parity. The next steps, as he laid them out, would require a reweaving of the social fabric in a way that untethered Blacks, and other Americans who were people of color, from the tattered scraps on the margins of society.
By 1968 Dr. King recognized that the war in Vietnam was a racist war. He raised his voice not only to proclaim that there was an unjust preponderance of African American young men drafted and sent to southeast Asia to fight for and die in that war, but that the war its self was an expression of US racist hegemony over the Southeast Asian people. He claimed that the mainstream American people gave lip service to the religious aspiration of “Peace on Earth,” but then went on to act in ways that promoted war, rather than deterred it. “Many of them indeed know better,” he quoted his mentor James Baldwin. “… but, as you will discover, people find it very difficult to act on what they know.”
If the social fabric was to be rewoven, if the white culture was indeed going to be transformed, and if true justice – with an end to racism – was going to be gained, how might that be achieved? Dr. King was very critical of the Black Power Movement. He feared that it was based in anger and hatred; that it paralyzed hope, and that it jeopardized chances for future gains in moving beyond what James Baldwin referred to as the problem of the color line.
While he was critical of the movement, Dr. King was in no way averse to the idea of Black power. He felt that it was essential for Blacks to claim their power, which they had been reluctant to do. He was a deeply religious man though, and his idea of power came out of his ideals of what it meant to be a religious person. He felt that the greatest strength, the greatest power for the black community and for all humanity was love.
He felt that love was a powerful enough base to secure and nurture a nonviolent movement in the face of violent and determined resistance. He felt that love was strong enough to maintain a working relationship with white allies, despite their lack of consistency in commitment and support to the causes of justice for all. And he believed that universal love – however one might understand it – was a force determined toward and constantly moving in the direction of justice. In the publication, “An Experiment in Love,” written 10 years earlier in 1958 he wrote:
“A ... basic fact about nonviolent resistance is that it is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. Consequently, the believer in nonviolence has deep faith in the future. This faith is another reason why the nonviolent resister can accept suffering without retaliation. For he knows that in his struggle for justice he has cosmic companionship. It is true that there are devout believers in nonviolence who find it difficult to believe in a personal God. But even these persons believe in the existence of some creative force that works for universal wholeness. Whether we call it an unconscious process, an impersonal Brahman, or a Personal Being of matchless power and infinite love, there is a creative force in this universe that works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole.”
Dr. King recognized the power of love and he understood its value in a movement that was intended to conquer injustice, and hate, and fear. He realized too, that for love to win the day, hope must be nourished and carefully cultivated. And he knew, despite any feelings of frustration and anger, that the greater wisdom resided in patience, not in resignation to the forces of evil, no! Wisdom resided in forgiveness and in forbearance for those errant white brothers and sisters who might yet find their way into the righteous fold and on the side of truth, and liberty, and justice for all humanity.
When Dr. King delivered the Ware Lecture in Hollywood, Florida at the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly in June of 1966, he told the Unitarian Universalists gathered there that he himself was a universalist. He told them that he believed that no person had been created only to end up in the fires of damnation, either on this earth or for all eternity. For white persons that meant – join with us or get out of the way, because God’s plan is bigger than you. For Blacks, who were already so weary from the struggle, that meant that bitterness, hatred and vengeance would never be an acceptable or effective response to the brutalities of racism. For everyone that meant that we needed to be about dedicating ourselves to loving and working for the possibilities of goodness, and that we needed to be less concerned with the self-righteous path of hating evil. If humankind was to grow, it would grow nurtured by love, and not exhausted by hate.
In the nearly forty years since Martin Luther King’s death, progress toward the fulfillment of his dream has ebbed and flowed. The movement has taken no new giant steps as it did when that great American walked as its leader. There have been times when our country has seen at least glimpses of the larger picture of our promise to be a true democracy. And then there have been other times, times when we have felt encouraged to feel more comfortable with our prejudices and our bigotries; times when we have felt encouraged to feel more comfortable in placing self-interest over the common good; times when we have been encouraged to feel more comfortable with the impression that ‘might is right’ and that to think otherwise is to be unpatriotic – to be un-American.
I fear that at this very moment we are living in the most notable, most pronounced era of this latter sentiment since Dr. King’s death. Ghettos are filled with children attending schools whose financial foundations are eroding along with urban tax bases, schools that are being robbed of tax dollars that have been rerouted for private education. Prisons, with more capacity than ever before, are crammed with disproportionate numbers of black men and persons of color who have little or no hope of gainful, lawful employment on the outside.
The picture is not as grim as it once was. The gap in the dropout rates and graduation rates of white vs. nonwhite students is narrowing. Still, only 10% to 12% of the African American community is graduating from college compared to 30% of the white population. Still further, Black income remains at 60% of the white counterpart and the Black unemployment rate is 200% higher. (Figures from 2002 U.S. Census and Statistics)
We live in a time when, once again, our nation is at war. Like the war in Vietnam, it is a one that is not in our own best interest, let alone the interest of those whom we have imposed it on. It is being fought once again in large part by Blacks, Hispanics and others of lower economic means and class. Similarly, since justification of the war cannot be substantiated, we are left facing the likelihood that once again this one is motivated by a sense of racial, or at least cultural, superiority and an inclination toward establishing imperialistic hegemony in the area.
I spent 3 or 4 hours this past week listening to the Senate Judiciary Committee proceedings in the Samuel Alito confirmation hearings. Mostly they made me sick. Neoconservatives posing and posturing. Liberals posturing and posing. The only redeeming quality of the hearings that I could appreciate was the civility of the relationship between Senators Arlan Spector and Patrick Lahey. Otherwise it seemed like a highly dramatic charade. It was a bad theatrical process that will, no doubt, end in the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice who, by all accounts, is a really swell, intelligent guy, but who leaves, as an appeals judge, a legacy of rulings that put the protection of the liberties of women, African Americans, labor, consumers and even the average citizen… at risk.
I’ve spoken with many of you and with many others about the state of our nation these days. There seems to be two predominant responses to these current conditions: 1) It’s not my fault; I didn’t make the choices that have led things in this direction. 2) Things are so awful that I feel completely helpless to effect any change against them.
Several times this past week, as I listened to the hearings and as I talked with people, I wondered, what would Martin Luther King say? What would he do in the midst of all of this? Not so surprisingly, I can hear his voice speaking as clearly as I heard it in my youth.
He would tell us that it doesn’t matter if we didn’t make the choices that have led things to where they are today. Those choices were made in our names. Their consequences are perpetrated in our names, using our resources. And unless we are doing all that we can to end racism, to end this war of insane aggression and to secure the protection and the liberties of all people we are responsible as passive, yet consenting, participants.
He would tell us that we are not helpless but that we, everyone of us, have resources including education and finances that are beyond imagination for most of the world, and that we need to put those assets to work for the common good. He would tell us that we need to question our commitment to and support for the causes of liberty and justice for all. He would tell us that, no matter how tired we might be, there are those far more tired than we, and that we need to get with it or get out of the way because God’s plan for justice is bigger than our cries of despair.
He would not only tell us but he would show us, once again, that the path to victory is the way of love, not just love for those who think the way that we do, but especially for those who do not. He would tell us and show us how to better dedicate our lives more to loving and promoting the possibilities of goodness and less to our hatred of evil.
He would remind us to keep faith in the universal force that bends towards justice and that we can never be helpless when we add our strengths and our gifts to this mighty force. By showing us love, by promoting our faith, he would offer us hope. My friends, one is never helpless when one has hope.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was taken from us nearly 40 years ago, but he has left us a legacy of faith, hope and love. Where do we go from here? It is up to each of us to offer one another, and to offer to the world, no less than our own faith, hope and love.
We will come out on the other side of this dark day. Our choice is to determine what part we might play in bringing about that new day’s dawning. Are each of us doing our part? Do we communicate with our elected officials? Should we be taking to the streets once again? Should you be the one running for office to go to Town Hall, Trenton or Washington to raise a voice of integrity in the halls of policy and power?
And all the while, do we maintain our humility? Do we remember to love right more than to hate wrong? Do we remember to love those around us – those who have and those who have not, those who see things as we do and those who do not?
A few months before he died, Dr. King commented on the meaning of his death. His words are words we might all offer up as a prayer for our own lives:
“Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator-that something we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. Every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning…
“I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who where in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.
“Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.
“And that's all I want to say... if I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, if I can spread the message as the master taught, then my living will not be in vain...” (From "The Drum Major Instinct," preached at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, February 4, 1968)
Nearly 40 years later, we are still a long way off from accomplishing the cures he suggested. Sadly, many of Dr. King’s assessments continue to ring true and – we might pray – that it is not yet too late for his remedies to be successfully applied and accomplished. This is the work that is left to us. And there is a new day still waiting to be born. |
