Who Killed Martin Luther King's Dream?: An Afro-American TragedyAuthor(s): George W. Shephered, Jr.Source: Africa Today, Vol. 15, No. 2, Can the Military Modernize? (Apr. - May, 1968), p. 2Published by: Indiana University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4184882 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 06:36

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Indiana University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Africa Today.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.154 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 06:36:18 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

COMMENTARY

Who Killed Martin Luther King's Dream?:

An Afro-American Tragedy Some of us stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 and listened to

Martin Luther King's most famous address: I HAVE A DREAM. He spoke of the com- ing changes he saw of the end to hate and racism in American society and the world. Like the grave man in marble at whose feet he stood when he uttered these words, his life has been taken by a fanatic and unreconcilable assassin. The demonic in Amer- ican society has lashed out again and crushed one of the most noble human beings who ever lived.

Who killed Martin Luther King's dream? It wasn't simply the White Establish- ment or the Ku Klux Klan, it was -every Ameri- can who failed to give the cause of Black emanci- pation every ounce of energy and resources he had available. After the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, White middle class America ap- peared to have salved its conscience and the vita- lity appeared to go out of the civil rights move- ment among us. Despite the rise of black power and the outbreaks of civil disorder, America was far too pre-occupied with the absurd crusade against communism in Vietnam to concentrate on the completion of the task of equalization of opportunities for all Americans. So when the Black garbage workers of Memphis were refused collective bargaining, who cared except Martin Luther King?

The Southern African experience parallels in a remarkable way the American. The death of Chief Albert Luthuli last summer marked the end of an era of attempts at peaceful reform through non-violence. The lives of these two men. joined together in their.faith and common African heri- tage symbolize the fate of the dream of human brotherhood in our age of violence.

The loss to Africa of Martin Luther King is second only to the loss to America. Not only was this Black American a representative of the finest blending of African and American culture, but also he was an inspirational leader to many Afri- cans as well as Americans. It was a genuine two- way relationship. King h i m s e 1 f frequently acknowledged the debt he had for the develop- ment of his non-violent methods to the freedom movement of the South Africans who back in the early 1950's began their first passive resistence campaigns. The quick successes of King in Mont- gomery and the civil rights movement in this country in turn inspired the African leaders to move more rapidly toward freedom. This Nkru- mah and others acknowledged when they returned to their Alma Mater, Lincoln University, to re- ceive degrees and to renew their contacts with Afro-Americans.

Moreover, King was one of those Afro-Ameri- can leaders who was continuously conscious of the ties and responsibilities of Americans for Af- rican developments. He was a prime mover in the formation of the Negro-American Leadership Con-

ference on Africa. And he repeatedly sought out American officials on behalf of African freedom.

Perhaps one of the greatest losses of all to Africa was the end of his role in the mission to Nigeria that King and a number of other Afro- American leaders were to undertake in mid-April. They had gained the acceptance of, both sides in the tragic struggle in Nigeria to attempt to assess the possibilities for a negotiated settlement. Some hope existed that a man with King's uni- versal respect might be able to persuadei the an- tagonists that an end to the killing was possible. At this point the future of this mission is in doubt.

Racism, in all its varied forms, is the evil in our midst. There are many practical reasons why racism is evil but the most important is the Bibli- cal view that Martin Luther King had of it, as an abomination against the laws of God.

One of the tragic lessons of the death of King that many will draw throughout the world is that his ends were right but the Franciscan means of non-violence and love are not for this world. The increasing civil disorders in American cities and the turn to guerrilla action in South Africa indi- cate that many have already drawn this conclu- sion. They argue that non-violence, like the reli- gion which inspires it, appeals to the middle class Whites and the privileged Blacks,who really don't want to change the racist system very much in their lifetime.

King was never an ideological fanatic or an absolute pacifist. While attacking the Vietnam war, he announced he would have fought in World War II if he had been called into the armed forces of his country. His appeal, though, was to the highest in men. For him, non-violence and recon- ciliation with one's brother was the best way. He was willing to give his life in trying to make it work. Perhaps we must now sorrowfully conclude the evil was greater than even he was prepared to admit.

The lesson in the death of King for the White power structure here and abroad is not that King's non-violence was a panacea but that White racism must be rooted out at every level. There is no time to be wasted.

George W. Shepherd, Jr.

2 AFRICA TODAY

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.154 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 06:36:18 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions