- Progression of the Southern Negro in his struggle
- Moving beyond polarities into full participation/discussion
- Peace
On December 21, 1960 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. formerly known as Michael King was asked the following question:
“Well, Dr. what effect are the sit-ins having on the progress of the Southern Negro and his struggle for equality?”
Dr. King’s response included the following:
In preparing my remarks for you today I came upon an earth shattering realization; purely by happenstance, I might add. At first it seemed bizarre, because one would think it is so obvious (at least to me). However, I suppose when you don’t take time to smell the roses, eventually you forget what they smell like and possibly worse, what they look like.“I think the movement represents struggle on the highest level of dignity and discipline. No one of goodwill can disagree with the ends of the sit-in movement …one of the interesting things…is that…it is achieving something concrete…therefore we see tangible gains as a result…”
Okay, so enough with the teasers and cliffhangers. I see you’re already on the edge of your seat. Here it is: I am a Southern Negro. Wow, I never really thought I’d find myself referring to myself in a way that perfectly (yet with some sense of imperfection) refers to me as I am. And if that didn’t fully make sense, you’re not alone as I’m still trying to understand the significance of my being educated at an institution such as Carnegie Mellon University, given my background and pedigree.
Since I stepped on this campus it seems I’ve come to know struggle all too well. Is it one for equality? How about recognition? Why even struggle at all? If misery loves company, then struggle has made it known to me that we shall not part from each other.
Until Martin’s dream is complete, struggle should not part from you either.
I struggle with understanding why it is that…as a people (i.e. humanity), which are fighting for equal rights we constantly, consistently, and continually allow those things which are “different” to separate us. How is it that we can agree to support efforts of establishing and embracing equality, yet we do a much better job of attacking a person and not a policy as evidenced by the recent tumult in our last presidential election?! Do you know how many Facebook friends I almost lost?!
I came up understanding the cliché, “Blood is thicker than water”. Now we just need to append the verbiage: “...but wait, there’s politics.”
I get it…we elected a black man for President. Not once, but twice…and as it was pointed out to me, his last name just seems to only make things even more awkward. Let me tell you, if it’d help, I’d give him my last name…
Let me tell you something: Whether you like it or not…despite your unwillingness to admit it. That dream, these differences, this diversity, is what we must embrace and cherish if we honestly want to see the “peace on earth” we so often talk up in our beauty pageants and Christmas stories; and let it begin with me.
In Dr. King’s acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway he stated, “Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.”
Here’s a quick story in closing. There was a young man who was forced to attend community college after high school because he wasn’t accepted into the University of his Choice. By some stroke of luck he was convinced to join AmeriCorps, a national service initiative. During this time he was engaging residents in various communities in conversation. Conversations about what they could do to take back their neighborhoods, improve their livelihood, and change people’s outlooks in ‘da hood. But he wasn’t alone. This was an approach taken on by the community, other citizens and the city as a whole. Crime, racism, and generations of neglect were issues that had to be addressed, but it could only be done by way of conversation. That’s right…they had to talk.
Dr. King refused “to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history”. He refused “to accept the idea that the ‘isness’ of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ‘oughtness’ that forever confronts him.” He believed “that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.” And that “this is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”
I’m a firm believer that conversations can lead to continuity. That if we come together to the table as Dr. King envisioned whether over a full-spread meal or cookies and punch, we can get to the mountaintop.
And so I ask the question again that was posed to Dr. King.
“Well, Dr. what effect are the sit-ins having on the progress of the Southern Negro and his struggle for equality?”
For this Southern Negro who thought as a child that Ivy League was too far off, I can’t help but agree with Dr. King:
“Well, I think a tremendous effect; I am convinced that when the history books are written in the future years, historians will have to record this movement as one of the greatest epochs of our heritage.”Article Links:
*Proposed speech to be given at Carnegie Mellon University on MLK, Jr. Day 2013
SN: Happy Inauguration Day! Not once, but twice.
[Added 1-21-14] Ivy League Slavery
