I was raised with KPFA, and every year on MLK’s birthday they would trot out the usual “the-popular-media-gets-King-wrong” themes – airing his more economically radical speeches, his stand against the Vietnam War, etc. It’s not that I disagree with them, it’s just a theme that’s been repeated so many times in the same way I just kind of roll my eyes when I see them. Yes, he had radical political positions. He also took conservative approaches at times, often leaning towards his Andrew Youngs as much as his Stokely Carmichaels for advice. And his “I Have a Dream” speech might seem almost trite after hearing it 500 times for those of us who weren’t even born when he gave it, but when you look at it and consider the context and the prose, the brilliance of the speech can’t be oversold really. It was for a larger audience, but its scope was grand and the fact that it’s really the only speech that 95 percent of the public will remember, that takes nothing from its significance.
So I kind of sighed when I ventured over to Daily Kos this morning and read a title post: Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did.
Well, I sighed and clicked on the link, and found that it wasn’t your typical lefty deconstruction of the watering down of King as distance lends sterilization of the message. In fact, the post wasn’t about message. It was about the actual accomplishment of King and the Civil Rights Movement – what it means to African Americans. And why they bristle when we on the left, or even some younger African Americans, say that the “dream” was not accomplished. That progress was temporary or exaggerated. What is emphasized, even by the left, is the universality of the causes King represented, and the failure to obtain “true equality” or fully economically emancipate the African American communities. The actual accomplishments are more significant to black people than to white people, and perhaps more to older people than younger. The post was written by an African American. This is the heart of the piece.
So anyway, I was having this argument with my father about Martin Luther King and how his message was too conservative compared to Malcolm X’s message. My father got really angry at me. It wasn’t that he disliked Malcolm X, but his point was that Malcolm X hadn’t accomplished anything as Dr. King had.
I was kind of sarcastic and asked something like, so what did Martin Luther King accomplish other than giving his “I have a dream speech.”
Before I tell you what my father told me, I want to digress. Because at this point in our amnesiac national existence, my question pretty much reflects the national civic religion view of what Dr. King accomplished. He gave this great speech. Or some people say, “he marched.” I was so angry at Mrs. Clinton during the primaries when she said that Dr. King marched, but it was LBJ who delivered the Civil Rights Act.
At this point, I would like to remind everyone exactly what Martin Luther King did, and it wasn’t that he “marched” or gave a great speech.
My father told me with a sort of cold fury, “Dr. King ended the terror of living in the south.”
Please let this sink in and and take my word and the word of my late father on this. If you are a white person who has always lived in the U.S. and never under a brutal dictatorship, you probably don’t know what my father was talking about.
But this is what the great Dr. Martin Luther King accomplished. Not that he marched, nor that he gave speeches.
He ended the terror of living as a black person, especially in the south.
That’s a taste, and it’s something we forget. Something I wasn’t alive to see or hear about as it unfolded. But it is not the grand message of a unified race that is the core of what he represented, at least not to the older generation of African Americans. Read the whole very powerful post, right down to the postscript, which appeals to a little bit of perspective for bloggers:
PS. I really shouldn’t have to add this but please — don’t ever confuse someone criticizing you or telling you bad things over the internet with what happened to people during the civil rights movement. Don’t. Just don’t do it. Don’t go there.
42 comments
Comments feed for this article
August 30, 2011 at 6:52 am
Mitch
Thanks, Eric. What a great essay to start the day with. I only wish you’d quoted even more, especially this:
August 30, 2011 at 7:17 am
Eric Kirk
Well, hopefully everyone is taking the link and reading the whole thing. No mere portion of it can completely do it justice.
August 30, 2011 at 8:04 am
Erasmus
I thought I was reasonably well-versed in the history of the civil rights era, so I was taken aback by the reference to an “Andrew Coleman” in Eric’s blog. A google search didn’t yield any information, so I thought: perhaps Andrew Young was meant. But “Young” and “Coleman” aren’t names with much in common — except when one is mayor of Detroit and is named “Coleman Young.” (I think I solved the mystery.) — A powerful essay indeed. I wish the part about people equating personal attacks on the Internet with the travails of the civil rights movement had been excised. Only a moron would make such an analogy.
August 30, 2011 at 8:09 am
Eric Kirk
Erasmus – you solved it, and I made the change. I used to get Coleman and Andrew mixed up as they were both mayors at the same time with Civil Rights Movement credentials. Now age has aggravated my mix up even more. Call me the Archie Bunker of the left.
August 30, 2011 at 11:58 am
Anonymous
How about some comments about the marijuana murder in Fort Bragg? I’m not surprised. If it’s not pro marijuana you don’t mention it, pretend it didn’t happen.
August 30, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Ernie's Place
I have a black friend, I say that because I’m white, and white people always start their ruminations about civil rights that way. Anyway, another white fellow walked up to my black friend, he was obviously glad to see him, but after shaking his hand and telling him that he was glad to see him. He said that “I thought maybe they hung you or something”. It’s a phrase that I had heard quite often as a kid. Always between white people.
My friend instantly turned icy cold, and he said, “Don’t ever say that to me. I know that it was a joke, but I’ve seen my people hung, just don’t ever say that to me ever, not ever”. It becomes a realization that not everything was good in America for some people. I was curious about the details, but wise enough not to ask.
I was raised in Humboldt county when we had very few black people. It was very unusual to see a black person, even in Eureka. So, as you might guess, I have very little understanding of what happened in the deep south. I read a lot and try to get the feeling of what happened there. I understand more than the people that hear Dr. Kings canned speeches. I soaked in the history of the sixties. It gives a person a different perspective to be in the times. It was a very, very moving time.
August 30, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Dave Kirby
I don’t think many of us remember what King and the S.C.L.C did. Walking down a southern street arm in arm was as scary as anything I experienced in Viet Nam. Our fellow citizens had dogs sicked on them. Billy clubs and fire hoses couldn’t stop them. Dr. King and his buds weren’t paper tigers, they were the real thing. I have the same dream but somehow it gets farther away lately.
August 30, 2011 at 11:12 pm
Ernie's Place
” It wasn’t marches or speeches. It was taking a severe beating, surviving and realizing that our fears were mostly illusory and that we were free.”
My greatest fear for the Black People, and Dr. Martin Luther King, is that he would precipitate a race war that they would surely lose. Their fears were far more than “illusory, they were very real. I’m still amazed, knowing the feeling of the times, that a race war didn’t happen, because it was routine to terrorize blacks in the South. History told us of other genocidal acts, it didn’t seem much of a stretch to think that it might happen again.
August 31, 2011 at 7:25 am
Mitch
That’s why it was so critical for MLK to speak of the arc of history bending towards justice.
The heroes of the civil rights movement (and by that I mean pretty much anyone who marched, rode, or gathered in the south at the time) are heroes not just because of their physical courage, but because they recognized the need for justice, and had either faith that “history bends towards justice” or a willingness to stand for justice despite lacking that faith. In either case, they recognized that they were part of something much larger than their own personal safety or comfort.
That’s the moral heroism that’s behind the physical heroism. Dr. King was able to inspire that moral heroism, which is one thing that leadership in the face of injustice is all about. It’s one of the things that religions could do, if they could be shorn of their mythologies, their arbitrary rules, and their hierarchies.
With that inspiration, or understanding, or whatever you want to call it, you aren’t unafraid, and you don’t have illusions that you won’t be hurt. You instead decide (I imagine) that the greater fear is backing down in the face of injustice and losing your soul/humanity/self-respect. There’s no doubt that the marchers required great physical courage in the face of historic violence; Dr. King helped them put their minds on the real prize, and weigh that prize against the risks of personal harm.
August 31, 2011 at 9:39 am
Jim
When I was in college, in 1967, in Washington, DC I drove to Florida with a friend for Spring Break. Right through to heart of the South. You could feel the tension. Two white kids with long hair and California plates, and we feared for our lives. Every place we stopped we were asked if we were there to stir up the n*****s. I lived through the DC April ’68 King assassination riots, prisoners to martial law in our apartment. Just being on that periphery, you could feel the fear.
August 31, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Joel Mielke
The piece mentions US foreign policy, but when Dr. King spoke out against the war in Vietnam (the greatest, and most moving recorded oratory I have ever heard), Washington was alarmed. He was assassinated one year later to the day.
August 31, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Not A Native
Ernie Wrote:
“I was raised in Humboldt county when we had very few black people. It was very unusual to see a black person, even in Eureka.”
You’re pretty funny Ernie, the 2010 census showed Black population in HumCo is only 1.1%. And I’ll bet a significant number of those folks are HSU student temporary residents.
WAKE UP ERNIE AND LOOK AROUND. IT HASN’T CHANGED ALL THAT MUCH HERE COMPARED TO THE REST OF CA. ONE IN A HUNDRED MEANS ITS STILL VERY UNUSUAL TO SEE A BLACK PERSON IN HUMCO.
And personally, I think a lot of the folks hereabouts like it that way, whether or not they are conscious or acknowledge it. They’re comfortable what they see in crowds, a sea of White faces.
August 31, 2011 at 5:42 pm
Joel Mielke
My apologies, but this is a full version of the speech (given twice that day) and it is complete. Please listen to it.
August 31, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Anonymous
“And personally, I think a lot of the folks hereabouts like it that way, whether or not they are conscious or acknowledge it. They’re comfortable what they see in crowds, a sea of White faces.”
Since it might be an unconscious prejudice, perhaps you’re one of those people. After all, how would you know you aren’t?
August 31, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Ernie's Place
NAN
Allow me to elucidate, I now see black people every day, quite a few are friends, and I know a few others as acquaintances, and some that I don’t know. In 1955 I NEVER saw a black person in Garberville. Go back to your charts and check Humboldt County population of blacks in 1955.
You failed to see the point that I was making, and are trying to lay some strange guilt trip on me because there is not more blacks in Humboldt county. You are obviously Not A Native. Your figures are irrelevant.
September 1, 2011 at 7:27 am
Percy
So what exactly do those confederate flags on people’s pick up truck stand for?
September 1, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Anonymous
“So what exactly do those confederate flags on people’s pick up truck stand for?”
Of the people that have Confederate flags, of the ones that I know, they are outsiders that moved here from the south and figured that they could somehow add to our knowledge of the world. Their opinions are just as welcome as the other people that moved here and decided to change us.
September 1, 2011 at 12:39 pm
Ernie's Place
“Percy said:
So what exactly do those confederate flags on people’s pick up truck stand for?”
Of the people that I know, that have those flags, just about 100% of them are from the south. They are outsiders that moved here because they thought that this would be a better place to live, then they go about trying to change things. Their opinions are just as welcome as all the other outsiders that move here because it’s a better place than where they are from, then try to change everything.
So what are you trying to change?
September 1, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Not A Native
The truth Ernie is that there are very few Black residents in HumCo RIGHT NOW.
The 2010 census shows 2533 people in the Garberville zip code. Only 20 of them are Black.
Your implication there are now significant numbers of Black residents here is simply untrue. Black people you see in Garberville aren’t residents, they’ve likely here from down South to buy pot.
The census data doesn’t lie. HumCo’s ethnic diversity and acceptance has remained 50 years behind average California, because people here strive to keep it that way. Similarly to the traditions of the Southern and MidWestern ancestors of many HumCo residents. In that tradition, noticing more Blacks around is usually the first step to identifying it as problem and then deciding to something has to be done about it.
And BTW, I’m in Arcata and rarely see more than 2 or 3 Black people around town or at events. The ones I do see are usually HSU students. Not surprising, because there are only 390 Blacks in the Arcata zip code, about 2% of the population.
September 1, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Anonymous
NAN says: “Black people you see in Garberville…likely here from down South to buy pot.”
Well that’s a blatantly racist assumption.
Coming from someone who’s taken it upon themselves to lecture the rest of us about racial attitudes, it also comes across as quite hypocritical.
September 1, 2011 at 6:59 pm
Not A Native
Like I wrote anon 3:15, there are only 20 Black residents in the whole Garberville zip code. So if you see more than a few at once, they’re almost certainly not residents.
And BTW I didn’t imply all or even most pot buyers are Black. So if you think so, you’re simply expressing your prejudice. There are certainly a lot of White people from down South here to buy pot. I’m certain there’s more of them than Black buyers. But since they ‘blend in’ with 98% of the locals, they aren’t easily identified and counted by a casual observer.
September 1, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Anonymous
What you said, NAN was that if you’re in Garberville and you see a black person, that black person is “likely here from down South to buy pot.”
For some reason you didn’t mention the possibility that they were here visiting the redwoods, camping, hiking, fishing, rafting, visiting friends, or any of the many other possibilities.
September 1, 2011 at 7:51 pm
Anne on a Mouse
I am not saying I agree but I am assuming that his reasoning is that because pot is by far the largest business in SoHum that anyone who is not from here is likely to be here to buy pot. And that blacks stand out whereas whites don’t because of our 99percent white population. Same profiling of blacks goes on here that dylan was singing about. The best disguise for a pot buyer is that of a white tourist. Next time you see an old retired couple wearing shorts and Disneyland Tshirts driving a motor home, you might think twice.
September 1, 2011 at 8:15 pm
Anne on a Mouse
–that he was singing about in “Hurricane” = see other thread.
September 1, 2011 at 8:36 pm
Not A Native
Thanks Anne, you caught my meaning and refuted anon7:18 very well.
Fact is, most Black tourists don’t feel ‘comfortable’ vacationing in largely White rural areas with histories of discrimination(which is essentially all of them). That’s been documented in surveys and isn’t surprising.
Few people choose to stray far from the familiar and risk a “Deliverance” vacation experience. And especially not parents with young children. Here’s one Black blogger and commenters take on it.
As a practical matter, I’d bet the local Chambers of Commerce aren’t promoting HumCo tourism in media that’s particularly targeted to be seen by Black(or Asian or Hispanic) people. I’d guess its primarily a ‘good business decision’ but also think some assumptions are behind it. They know there would be a negative local reaction if it got out that the COC was wooing minorities to HumCo.
September 1, 2011 at 8:39 pm
Eric Kirk
Not taking sides in the exchange, but if it’s dangerous for African Americans to vacation in rural areas, then it’s even more dangerous for them to venture into rural areas to buy drugs.
September 1, 2011 at 9:00 pm
Anonymous
NAN says: “Fact is, most Black tourists don’t feel ‘comfortable’ vacationing in largely White rural areas…”
The presence of people like NAN, ready and willing to profile them as “likely” drug buyers, probably doesn’t help.
September 1, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Anonymous
–where’s Mr Nice?
September 2, 2011 at 8:22 am
Ernie's Place
Nan
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I don’t get your point at all. My point was that when I was young there were no blacks in Garberville, now by your figures there are 20. My only point was that, I now have black friends, any number of them would tell you so, if it weren’t too ludicrous to ask them, and I’m not.
The blacks that live here are quite happy with Garberville. What Eric’s post was about was the facts that black people don’t live in the terror that they did before Dr. King. Granted, there is prejudice in Garberville, but I can guaranty you, that for every person that would pick on somebody for being black, there are at least twenty that would come to his defense here in Garberville, me among them. That would have never happened in the South before Dr. King.
Here are some cities with high populations of black people, I would bet that none of our black friends that live in Garberville would trade them places.
Gary, Ind. 84.0%
Detroit, Mich. 81.6
Birmingham, Ala. 73.5
Jackson, Miss. 70.6
New Orleans, La. 67.3%
Baltimore, Md. 64.3
Atlanta, Ga. 61.4
Memphis, Tenn. 61.4
Washington, DC 60.0%
Richmond, Va. 57.2
Now, I’m going to drop this conversation, because believe it or not some things are even beneath MY dignity. Where a black person decides to live or not is none of my business.
Jesus Christ! Can’t we just celebrate the life of Dr. martin Luther King without having issues?
September 2, 2011 at 3:09 pm
Not A Native
Ernie, you’ve got you head stuck up in your anatomy. The reason Black people don’t live in HumCo is because it has a well deserved reputation of being unwelcoming(and I’m being tactful there).
Your claim only 1 out of 20( thats 5%) HumCo people are prejudiced and bigoted against Black(and often Asians and Hispanics) is pure BS. You live in a fairyland of your own construction, see only what you want to see, and invent myths that there no problem and where Black people live is of no concern to you. While you know full well they won’t choose to live here and your tolerance won’t ever be put to the test. Thats the kind of denial that segregationist Southerners used: Black people can live whereever they want, but they choose to live in segregated areas because they like it that way.
I was in a public meeting not three weeks ago where people openly spoke about not wanting HumCo to have more of ‘those Arcata people and Southern California students’ here. And at more private settings I’ve heard recitations of some of the worst racial bigotry and stereotypes.
And yes Ernie, this is exactly the topic to honor MLK because he spoke out against both overt and covert discrimination when others told him to shut up because everyone is doing just fine as things are. And when he didn’t he was murdered for it. Quite similar to fairly recent HumCo history, the reason for lack of racial diversity here to this day.
BTW Eric 8:39, you made a silly argument, I know it was just in fun like a lawyer game. But a Black person on leisure vacation avoids situations that might be uncomfortable, like being in HumCo. A Black person involved in an illicit for profit transaction, like a HumCo pot buy, is expecting danger and prepares(arms) themselves to mitigate the danger.
September 2, 2011 at 5:18 pm
tra
NAN says “Black people you see in Garberville aren’t residents, they’ve likely here from down South to buy pot.”
NAN says “The reason Black people don’t live in HumCo is because it has a well deserved reputation of being unwelcoming.”
NAN says “… a Black person on leisure vacation avoids situations that might be uncomfortable, like being in HumCo. A Black person involved in an illicit for profit transaction, like a HumCo pot buy, is expecting danger and prepares(arms) themselves to mitigate the danger.”
So, according to NAN, the self-appointed expert on being “welcoming” to minorities, if you see a Black person you in Garberville, you should assume that they’re probably an (armed) pot buyer. Yeah, that’s a real “welcoming” attuitude.
Seems like NAN is certainly doing his part to maintain Humboldt’s “well deserved reputation of being unwelcoming” toward minorities.
September 2, 2011 at 9:08 pm
Not A Native
Seems tra is just repeating the denial twisting meanings to shooting the messenger. I always thought, pot buyers were well received in SoHum because locals claim pot supports the entire economy and its the buyers who supply the cash. But Ernie and tra have inadvetently revealed their true feelings and personal knowledge about folks who traffick in illegal pot. They believe pot buyers are undesirable people and being called a buyer is a slur. It not feaqr of being thought to be pot buyers that wards Black people away from HumCo. Its fear of disengenuous and duplicitous people who write post nonsense in lame attempts to deny and distract from the fact that only 20 Black people live in all of Garberville.
September 2, 2011 at 9:27 pm
tra
It not feaqr of being thought to be pot buyers that wards Black people away from HumCo. Its fear of disengenuous and duplicitous people who write post nonsense…
Hilarious!
September 2, 2011 at 10:27 pm
suzy blah blah
Suzy’s worning yoiu be carefull Nan, um, LOL@ sure probly soume peeps call us natives hear isn soHum tokenists not me _cought cough{ but –yuo haveto test the podenct for the byeurs yuo now LOL@ ** weather there black or white its all smoky gray when yuo hit the bong, i dont nkow about tra ,,, but you cant say that ernie is into tokenism, ever thuogh hes totally a old homeboy timer and pruod as can be of sohUm , he just doesnt do that i dont think, i thikn its probly below his dignaty level LOL,. or something hes like one beer before dinnenr with tv but Suzy beleaves him and i herd him swaer he never took a toke in his hole life LOL@ –so dont go thier.
September 3, 2011 at 7:07 am
Not A Native
Yep tra, keep laughing. Knowing the fact that only 20 Black people live in all of Garberville is a real knee slapper for you, as well as being reassuring.
Sorry Suzy, you’re still not up to the old standard. Keep trying….
September 3, 2011 at 7:49 am
Joel Mielke
Why does it matter how many African Americans live in a quaint rural town like Garberville? It hasn’t attracted large numbers of people of any ethnicity.
September 3, 2011 at 12:24 pm
suzy blah blah
Nan, Suzys the won whose sorry. Its not like it used to be in Garverville any more, time goes by . . . If it were like it was in the old daze, id strike my magic bong and make stand time still .. then i’d swiftly explane the blackandwhite trip to yuo a flesh ** how were all-one and how its all one-love, etc. ** But theres less and less time all the time these days for poor Suzy. Nights too. I used to have a handsome boyfriend to dally with, but that was a disastor, i dont mind someone drinks a little but dude was multi-flasking! It seems nobodys satistified anymore, Its a sign of the times. Its becuz of the ecomony …The wise old-timer-bloggers nod there heads wisely. tThey know that “thats the way she goes.” They say somethings missing, They say, “back inna day Suzy was colorful, exotic, and glamorous, and she was always a carryin on, a goofin off, a dancen, and always a token” . NOw shes a angry stupid mean bitch. And its not funny. Sigh,
LOL!. . . .
sometimes i have a dream too, but its hard to remember when the alarms going off 
September 3, 2011 at 7:40 pm
Not A Native
Oh yeah Joel , the dearth of minorities in HumCo is all sheer coincidence, a totally random event. Guess there’s something in minorities’ makeup that causes them to not participate in the massive immigrations here. LOL The known history is quite clear, especially for Asians, and the unknown anecdotal histories handed down within familes, perpetuate the tradition.
September 3, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Not A Native
Oops, and Joel there is a large population of a particular ethnicity in Garberville. In fact its members comprise over 90% of the population. Is that a surprise to you?
September 5, 2011 at 9:04 am
Joel Mielke
I wonder what Not-a-Native would propose to remedy the horrible crisis.
September 5, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Ernie's Place
Thanks Joel… For a moment there I thought that I was going to have to solve this crisis all by myself. So far all I have been able to do is feel guilty for not meeting my quota.
September 6, 2011 at 4:46 am
Joel Mielke
You could have at least adopted a half-dozen kids, Ernie.