Martin L. King Retrospective © 16 January 2005

In coming days marches celebrating the life and legacy of native Atlantan Martin Luther King, Jr. will held in Northeastern Georgia. I plan to (knees, back and lungs willing) to march/walk in two. There was a time when just being white and showing up was enough to add hope and appreciation. I want to "show up."

But I am also feeling need for empowerment to know and to do what is right to refresh and renew my commitment and my hope.

I am aware that context and the varied experience of each individual influences what resonates more strongly. I freely acknowledge having probably done less formal study of the Martin Luther King and SCLC history than of many other politico sociological phenomena of the 20th century.

My first real awareness of the power of "showing up." was following the assassination of Dr. King, I was among a small cluster of gawky bedraggled Grady Hospital residents and novice faculty; clad in well used whites we stood at the corner of Edgewood Ave. and Courtland Street as the funeral cortege passed by .

Continuing in our work we had been hearing the sounds of the funeral ceremony drift up to the ninth floor from the Ebenezer P. A. system. The spoken words were difficult to understand but I will never forget the astounding beauty of Mahalia Jackson's voice as she sang the familiar hymns of mourning and hope. As the services came to an end we walked down to stand on that comer to support our colleagues and patients and pay homage to our neighbor.

As the now famous mule drawn wagon passed our presence was noticed even among the first line of escorts and many who followed. Several pointed to us saying "Look! The Grady Doctors!" I have never felt so undeserving yet so joyful to somehow be making difference.

Many African American poor were our next door neighbors and called "The Gradies" their family doctor. (It is difficult to comprehend the excessive idealization with which we were endowed and some certainly came from our living and working in intimacy. But we had willingly and unwillingly followed the rigid mores of segregation until it became unlawful.)

I stood hearing the calls and the clacking of hooves and wagon wheels on concrete. For those moments I understood the imperatives born by institutions (and the individuals) that are perceived to speak for the various segments of the community which serve the public; the imperative to not only do the right thing but to publicly advocate for the right thing even if it is only through presence, and yes; even if it is dangerous.

"Now that he is dead we may praise him."

During the period of mourning Atlanta radio stations broadcast Dr. King's recorded sermons and speeches. Being friends with and or physician to players in "American Apartheid" I certainly had been witness to and even immersed in virtually every aspect and permutation of atrocities committed by white Americans. However in all honesty it was only when I paused to hear his words that I became conversant with what this man Martin King and the movement he inspired and represented is about. There is so much there and it is so rich one can only hope to remember to revisit a portion of the knowledge periodically.

King trusted the principles of this great nation, calling the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence "promissory notes." not the creations of greedy and evil white men designed to exploit. He was however realist enough to know among our founders some must surely have fit that description.

He embraced the principles as they were written. He also trusted that conscience is inherent in most; that it is human nature to know what is right from what is wrong. He only called for us all to live up to our principles and to aspire to behavior reflecting the best of our nature; to make good on our promissory notes.

In my view this is the major achievement; transforming and empowering the oppressors to "do the right thing." It was certainly not the only. The more familiar gaining access to and or grasping the political instruments of power to enact laws giving power to prohibit certain behavior was there and must remain.

From my readings I suspect that even King only came to realize the former as it began to occur.

It began with would be activists becoming more confident and stronger as they gathered in clusters and reinforcing their own essence of human ness and dignity in the kinship, a kinship that has its roots in ancient African communication and community. Taking from a number of other historical examples they learned to move into more public places, beginning to activate those moral imperatives in their oppressors, disciplining themselves to non violence to counter the false premises of power to coerce “makes right.”

With successes in civil rights and racial equality In the law they broadened the scope of interest. King moved into advocating for peace and withdrawal from Southeast Asia. At the time of the assassination they were entering into the arena of economic fairness and worker rights.

History continues to be written, at times unwritten and rewritten. It is likely it may even become lost. But as long as there are humans who gather it will be found again. That is why I march.

9 August 2005: Most of the “ordinary folk in this nation and nations whose governments have followed the terrified and inept leadership of the United States now realize our impulsive and arbitrary actions have inflammed, if not created, a catastrophic world crisis.

In addition to the deaths and severe injury of thousands of innocents, those principles so valued and practiced by Dr. King are being breached. by government fiat. These include claimed justification of torture, selective suspension of universal (creation endowed) human rights --- even exemption for medical and pastoral practitioners from ancient ethical codes. and now is verging on, if not inciting, resuming the use of nuclear weaponry.

Now we who predicted it and we who had great hopes must in my view join and take on the almost impossible task that Dr. King, Nelson Mandela and others from history have assumed. The situation is just too serious to do otherwise.

We no longer have the luxury of politics, of taking sides, of playing “gotcha.” -- or even hate.

These have been the actions of terrified desperate men .Inept for sure, but I think, also men of conscience. But they are yet afraid to behold what they have set in motion with violence and therefore can only imagine continuing with escalating the violence.

Great leaders, both of oppressors and the oppressed understand that the power of terrorism derives from human capacities, the ability to remember and the ability to imagine the future. I believe and hope also from conscience. The healing must be human, from the power of the kinship, the village. We must outreach, relieve their isolation, enfold them, collectively assume the mindset of peacemakers and healers and expect that of them.

I begins with the mind set and then seizing each opportunity. I hope it is beginning to happen around the world now. If not it needs to.

We will forgive, another human capacity, I hope not forget. It is better to remember the terror than it is to re-enact it.

Gathering

Commentay and News

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The Religious Left, Joan King
Joan's Columns
Bo Retrospective
Bo's Columns
Sue Keeps the Connection Alive
March for Peace - Rev. Keller

On the Gulf States Hurricane

UUA Rev. Sinkford, on New Orleans
Rev. Keller
Joan King
Mort Scott
TalkingStick