RALPH BAILEY: Martin Luther King's courage remains unmatched
| Friday, Jan 15 2010 01:46 PM
Last Updated Friday, Jan 15 2010 01:46 PM
It is said that prostitutes and old buildings gain respectability after a period of time but it seems living legends become posthumous targets of ridicule and scrutiny and no one's character has suffered more than that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., arguably the most courageous revolutionary this republic has ever seen.
While some of my radio brethren question King's achievements, insisting we need no national holiday for the fallen minister, King's undying spirit, commitment to nonviolence and unwavering drive for equal rights in the face of certain assassination cannot be surpassed.
King catapulted to national prominence in the mid-1950s after becoming president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, a group of ministers, church goers and civil rights seekers that cooked up the Rosa Parks-spurred Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Less than two months into the boycott, King was told his home with his wife, Coretta, and 10-week-old son, Martin III, inside had been bombed.
King arrived to find his family miraculously healthy and a mob of armed black folks swarming the home with blood in their eyes.
Taylor Branch, in his Pulitzer Prize winner "Parting the Waters," chronicles what happened.
"King walked on to the porch. Holding up his hand for silence, he tried to still the anger by speaking with an exaggerated peacefulness in his voice. Everything was all right, he said. 'Don't get panicky. Don't do anything panicky. Don't get weapons. If you have weapons, take them home. He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword. Remember that is what Jesus said. We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love.'"
Hate struck again in an unfamiliar face in September 1958. A delusional black woman approached King as he signed autographs in his first book, "Strive Toward Freedom." Izola Curry, a 29-year-old housekeeper from Harlem, shoved a letter opener deep into King's chest so close to his main artery doctors insisted that had King sneezed he would have drowned in his own blood.
The deadly reality of the fight for freedom reared its ugly head again in 1963. Just five months before John F. Kennedy would be murdered in Dallas, Medgar Evers, who encouraged blacks to vote, fought for desegregation and championed King's non-violent approach, died in the arms of his wife and children, gunned down in his Jackson, Miss., driveway.
The Evers and JFK deaths deeply moved Martin and, as he later conceded, even frightened him. But the "movement" had to move forward.
King now soared among the giants in the world after being named "Time" magazine's Man of the Year in 1963 and becoming the youngest man to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 at age 35.
And then came the marches on Selma.
King and men like Ralph Abernathy and brave young black students all over the south marched on cities like Selma and participated in "Freedom Rides" that were met by rabid mobs taking up arms or local sheriff's officers using Billy Clubs, fire hoses and dogs to turn back black women, children and the elderly.
Deadly violence erupted in Selma in March 1965 where Georgia Congressman John Lewis was badly beaten. The violence spread so that a white minister from Boston who'd come to support the movement was beaten and died days later in an area hospital.
And yet the marches continued until the final successful march that traveled up the Edmund Pettis Bridge, now a civil rights landmark in Alabama.
I have long argued that King predicted his death.
On a rainy night in Memphis when King was not scheduled to speak, he was summoned to a church by Andrew Young, who would later serve in the Carter Administration and as mayor of Atlanta.
King was in Memphis supporting striking sanitation workers and had scheduled a march on their behalf but no speeches. Young prodded his friend and off he went.
King, tears welling up, blew the crowd away, warning it to keep its eyes on the prize even after his inevitable murder.
"Like anybody, I would like to 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 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. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord."
Less than 24 hours later an assassin would shoot Dr. King in the neck on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
Was Dr. King flawed? He was human, so clearly he erred in life. But I challenge anyone to point to another man in American history with MORE conviction, courage and commitment to a cause.
Happy Birthday and rest well, my Morehouse College brother. We miss you and need you so desperately.
Ralph Bailey, who hosts a talk show on AM 1560 KNZR, is one of four conservative community columnists whose work appears here every Saturday. These are the opinions of Bailey, not necessarily The Californian. You can e-mail him at rbailey@bakersfield. com. Next week: Heather Ijames.
