Mike Parker: To honor King’s memory, work for education and justice
The Protestant reformer John Calvin once lamented, “If they had only looked into my books.” Calvin came to know the pain of being a symbol. The reality of what he thought and taught was buried beneath interpretations imposed on him by others.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is in danger of becoming a similar symbol. Once he becomes only a symbol, the symbolic content of his memory will eclipse what he thought and taught. That content will likely have little connection to the man he genuinely was.
Dr. King could easily join in Calvin’s lament. To honor him, we need to take time to read and ponder what he wrote and said. His “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” dated April 16, 1963, is a case in point.
He wrote the letter in response to a public statement by eight Alabama clergymen who pleaded with African Americans to be patient. These clergymen deplored the demonstrations King was leading.
They commended their own community and law officers for their restraint and urged their “own Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham.”
They called King’s actions “unwise and untimely.” King read their statement while in jail. He began his answer courteously:
“But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.”
King compared himself to the Old Testament prophets and the Apostle Paul, those who left their homes to carry God’s message. He said, “So I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.” Injustice thrived in the Birmingham of his time, and he contended that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
He chided the clergymen for deploring the demonstrations without also deploring the conditions in Birmingham that caused the demonstrations. The protests sprang from conditions that made African Americans second-class citizens in Birmingham and from unkept promises that encompassed things as simple as removing racially humiliating signs.
He reminded these men that while they called for negotiation, the purpose of the demonstrations was to bring about meaningful negotiation.
“Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.”
King reminded us of our own collective history. “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” I am not sure if Dr. King had the Declaration of Independence in mind when he wrote those words, but I cannot help but remember that this nation was born of the willingness of people to fight rather than endure oppression.
For those who have forgotten what segregation was like, take a close look at the letter’s 14th paragraph, in which King puts a human face on the victims of segregation.
King’s letter is filled with rich illustrations that show the depth of his education and the clarity of his writing and thinking. Yet how many school-age children have read that letter? How many adults today have ever read it?
We hear about “the dream,” but we know little of the dreamer.
The greatest tribute that anyone, regardless of ethnic background, age, or gender, can give Dr. King’s memory is to read what he wrote.
When I think of the many students I taught through the years who had no interest in education, I wonder if these young people ever confronted the man of education, learning, and training Dr. King was.
Wearing his picture on a T-shirt is one thing. Knowing what he believed and carrying on his work of making his dream a reality with grace and charity is quite another.
Which is the greater honor to his memory?
Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
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