What’s
Wrong Today?
We
celebrate Martin Luther King day in January. But, today is the 46th
anniversary of the day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. The NYT reminded us of the assassination two
days ago, with an article about the Lorraine
Motel, which is now the National
Civil Rights Museum:
climax of the sweeping new exhibition here is almost painfully mundane. An open
container of milk and a half-drunk cup of coffee sit on a table near a 1960s
television topped by rabbit-ear antennas. A peach-colored bedspread is pulled
back, and the remains of a catfish lunch are nearby. Pale yellow curtains are
open to the balcony outside. We are looking at Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel
It is the room that the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. left for a moment on April 4, 1968, to go onto the
balcony. That was when James Earl Ray took the shot that killed Dr. King.
King was in Memphis
to support the strike of African
American garbage workers, who were on strike to protest unsafe conditions,
abusive white supervisors, and low wages, and to gain recognition for their
union.
On April
3, 1968, in Memphis, King delivered his last
speech, where he vowed
not to let “any illegal injunction” prevent a planned demonstration in the city
the next day.
In that speech,
King, 39 at the time, told the crowd about a bomb threat on his plane from
Atlanta that morning, saying he knew that his life was constantly in danger because
of his political activism. He then delivered this unforgettable meditation on
his work and his life:
live a long life…Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain, and
I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with
you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the
promised land
In addition to only
dimly remembering the date of his death, Americans remember the conviction of
James Earl Ray as his killer. They have little conscious knowledge that in
addition to the criminal trial of Ray, there was a civil trial in Memphis about
the assassination. It found that a conspiracy to kill Dr. King was at the root
of James Earl Ray’s act.
The suit was brought in
1999 by the King family along with Dr. William F. Pepper, a
lawyer who had become friendly with Dr. King in 1968. In 1999, the NY Times reported
on the jury trial:
suit brought by the family of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decided today
that a retired Memphis cafe owner was part of a conspiracy in the 1968 killing
of Dr. King. The jury’s decision means it did not believe that James Earl Ray,
who was convicted of the crime, fired the shot that killed Dr. King
More from the
NYT:
testimony and one hour of deliberation, the jury in the wrongful-death case
found that Loyd Jowers as well as ”others, including governmental agencies”
had been part of a conspiracy. The jury awarded the King family the damages
they had sought: $100, which the family says it will donate to charity
Perhaps
the most remarkable thing about the King civil trial, was that
it received almost no coverage in the US media. The Wrongologist does not generally
subscribe to conspiracies. One of these theories of the assassination is true,
but nearly 50 years later, it may no longer matter which it is.
Here is what we should remember: There is
less than three months between the observance of King’s birthday and his martyrdom.
The way each is recognized by politicians reveals the contradictions in his legacy.
In one breath, politicians of all ideological stripes extol the virtues of
racial equality, while most ignore his criticisms of war and poverty.
These criticisms
are especially important, since they show an evolution of Dr. King’s activism.
Perhaps more than any other social-movement leader in American history, King
proved capable of looking at different strands of political and social
injustice, and tying them together to
form a coherent narrative capable of leveraging mass disaffection into concrete
policy change.
This same crafting
of a narrative is what the Wrongologist has
been saying is the key to beating
the plutocracy and restoring our democracy.
Let’s also
remember that Dr. King’s last political crusade was the
Poor People’s Campaign to end poverty. His last book, “Where
Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” posed a question that
confounded the nation at the time of its release in 1967 as much as it does today:
Where do we go from here?
But, by launching
a national movement to end poverty, King answered his own question. Pennell
Joseph offers some wisdom:
the best way to honor his life and political legacy is to focus on the issues
of poverty, race and war that marked his final political campaign…his steadfast
courage and risk taking offer an enduring lesson of political integrity, one
that all activists should heed
Go
out and develop a narrative, one that unites people to win back the country
from the Plutocrats and their fellow traveler politicians. Follow Dr. King’s
example.
Take
your narrative to your neighbors. Work to get out the vote in November. This is
house-to-house fighting, folks.
Our
democracy is in an existential crisis, and only you and your narrative can beat
the Plutocrats.
King was a minister and worked extensively with community organizers. The current crop of thuggish conservatives absolutely hate community organizers. Yet without them, we would not have had the civil right successes of the 60s.