This is the final installment of a five-part series on The Spiritual Nature of the King Years.
If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others…(from “The Drum Major Instinct” delivered by Dr. King on February 4, 1968 at Ebenezer Baptist Church).
As children, many athletically inclined boys dream of hitting a last second shot to win the NBA Championship, or of throwing the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, or of hitting the game winning homerun in game seven of the World Series, or any one of dozens of last second rescues where victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat. However, while many youngsters have impersonated those triumphant scenarios on the playground and rehearsed them over and over in their youthful minds, how many children dream of raising the consciousness level of humanity through a life of suffering, abuse and then assassination at the hands of the people they came to set free? Yes, King did much more than lead the black community out of its long night of despair; he liberated America from the absurd notion that blacks were somehow exempt from the bedrock principle of its founding documents – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (taken from the Declaration of Independence).”
To be sure, Dr. King has not been the only social champion to give his life serving others; however, his force of will added a dimension to his efforts that has rarely been seen in America. He also possessed the five qualities that strike fear in the heart of those powerful men who attempt to assume control of the destiny of humanity: 1) King did not fear death; 2) He had little desire for earthly possessions, so there was not much to lose; 3) He was a very skilled orator; 4) He spoke out against injustice; and 5) He walked with God.
Many people do not fear death, have no desire for worldly goods, speak out against injustice and walk with God; however, if they possess those attributes, but are unable to use speech as a weapon, then chances are that history will never remember them. Words are more surgical than nuclear-tipped Cruz Missiles if used skillfully. Depending on your source, there are between 250,000 and 1 million words in the English language, and based on how one strings them together, you can get people to do anything from practicing Jim Crow with impunity to engaging in genocide. History is replete with many who have used their words to incite others to commit unspeakable acts, but there are also men, like Dr. King, who used their words for the greater good of society.
America’s long love affair with racial bigotry had never been confronted in the manner that King opposed it. His speech demonstrated the fallacy of racial superiority and amassed a following that established him, not only as a Civil Rights leader, but he also became the voice of opposition against the international policies of the United States. After receiving the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, King’s focus began to sharpen beyond Civil Rights to the human rights abuses that many were suffering abroad; often at the hands of the United States. As the unquestioned leader of the modern Civil Rights Movement, he became the de facto leader of two other movements of dissent: the anti-war movement; and labor union’s efforts to bring improved working conditions to its members. This was unprecedented in American history, where three major opponents of America’s foreign and domestic policies were coalescing under one voice, and that voice was the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
Notwithstanding King’s longing to slay Jim Crow; an objective that would be considered logical by any reasonable white person today looking back on the 1960s struggle, it was his incisive ability to unite people of common interests that marked him as a threat to the aristocracy and men in political leadership. It seemed conspicuously providential that under his leadership, the nation was set on a collision course with the voices of opposition that would alter the course of American history directly and world history indirectly. To place a finer point on this line of reasoning, if America does not reverse the discredited policies of its racial past during the King years, then the country does not evolve by 2008 to elect Barack Obama as its president.
History has only produced a handful of peaceful men who have posed a threat to the established power structure. Why is this? It is because the ruling class has always insulated itself from threats from the working class. There have always been change agents who have cried “foul,” for one cause or another, while sacrificing their lives to reverse a situation. However, no one in American history pursued their cause with the skill, elegance, determination and epic refusal to resort to violence in the face of constant physical harm like Dr. King.
In dealing with men like Jesus, like King, like Gandhi, like Bonhoeffer, the political leadership has to gauge the level of threat that these men pose, and the simple formula that is used is thus: Intent plus Capability equals Threat. Many righteous warriors, both black and white, attempted to slay Jim Crow or correct some other societal ill; however, which of those men or women were able to marshal the forces of destiny to aid them in their efforts to rid the country of the stain of racism? Here we have plenty of Intent, but a very low degree of Capability, resulting in limited Threat; however, Dr. King’s leadership threatened much more than simply sanitizing the South of its segregated mentality. His opposition to segregation, dangerous working conditions and low pay, the war in Vietnam and other matters of domestic and foreign affairs made him a high priority target for the country and the aristocracy to destabilize.
Dr. King stood out among all of the other black leaders as the one most likely to alter the landscape of America if left unattended. Under the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Program, also known as “COINTELPRO,” the nation’s top law enforcement agency infiltrated black nationalist groups in an effort to neutralize their effectiveness among the masses. Although other black leaders were considered possible threats, the FBI saw King as the black “messiah.” The imagery of a messiah is profound coming from the Federal government, for it distinguished King from his leadership rivals in the eyes of the national, political structure. The following is taken directly from the COINTELPRO program:
Introduction – The purpose of this new counterintelligence endeavor is to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of black nationalist, hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence and civil disorder.
The pernicious background of such groups, their duplicity, and devious maneuvers must be exposed to public scrutiny where such publicity will have a neutralizing effect. Efforts of the various groups to consolidate their forces or to recruit new or youthful adherents must be frustrated. No opportunity should be missed to exploit through counterintelligence techniques the organizational and personal conflicts of the leaderships of the groups and where possible an effort should be made to capitalize upon existing conflicts between competing black nationalist organizations. When an opportunity is apparent to disrupt or neutralize black nationalist, hate-type organizations through the cooperation of established local news media contacts or through such contact with sources available to the Seat of Government, in every instance careful attention must be given to the proposal to insure the targeted group is disrupted, ridiculed, or discredited through the publicity and not merely publicized.
Intensified attention under this program should be afforded to the activities of such groups as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Revolutionary Action Movement, the Deacons for Defense and Justice, Congress of Racial Equality, and the Nation of Islam. Particular emphasis should be given to extremists who direct the activities and policies of revolutionary or militant groups such as Stokely Carmichael, H. "Rap" Brown, Elijah Muhammad, and Maxwell Stanford.
The Counterintelligence Program is now being expanded to include 41 offices. ... For maximum effectiveness of the Counterintelligence Program, and to prevent wasted effort, long range goals are being set… 2. Prevent the rise of a "messiah" who could unify, and electrify, the militant black nationalist movement. Malcolm X might have been such a "messiah;" he is the martyr of the movement today. Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and Elijah [Muhammed] all aspire to this position. Elijah [Muhammed] is less of a threat because of his age. King could be a very real contender for this position should he abandon his supposed "obedience" to "white, liberal doctrines" (nonviolence) and embrace black nationalism…(COINTELPRO – Black Nationalist Hate Groups (1967-1971), page 1, emphasis mine).
It is significant to note that Dr. King fulfilled the government’s prediction of his role as the black messiah, and whether he saw himself as the savior, he sacrificed his life for all people of good will. Although, I believe that it is clear that America has embarked upon the course of reducing his stature as an historic figure, we still marvel in the fact that it has bestowed upon him the greatest honor that any nation can grant one of its citizens: It designated a national holiday in recognition of his birth; a distinction that was made to only one other before him, and that was the country’s first president, George Washington.
As we celebrate the life of Dr. King, let this be a day of public service, where you find an opportunity to do a good deed. There are more than 300 million people in America, and if only half of them committed only one virtuous act per day, the world would be a better place to live.
Long live the Dream, and may the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. live perpetually!
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