This chapter on the example and importance of Martin Luther King Jr. is built around Stewart Burns 2004 book entitled To The Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr's Sacred Mission to Save America, 1955-1968.
The end of the book reflects the spirit of the book. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. On April 8, his widow, Coretta Scott King, who could have easily been overwhelmed not only by grief, but also by bitterness, hate and resentment, uttered these words: "I believe that this nation can be transformed into a society of love, of justice, peace and brotherhood." A stunning affirmation of love and hope in the midst of oppression and tragedy.
Why another book on Martin Luther King? While based on quality research and scholarship, this book fundamentally is a labor of love and respect embedded in wisdom. It probes the spiritual and ethical dimensions of King's life and ministry more than most books on King. A flawed person in terms of sexual morality, often guilt-ridden and exhausted, and at times depressed, still, on many occasions, the Spirit's anointing rested upon King as he proclaimed and practiced the gospel of truth, love, forgiveness and justice. King really did love his brutal enemies.
James Cone, author of the excellent book Martin and Malcolm in America, eloquently and accurately asserts: "Thoroughly researched and gracefully written, To The Mountaintop is a brilliant interpretation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s vocation to save America."
To The Mountain Top's book cover states:
"Moral warrior and nonviolent apostle; man of God rocked by fury, fear, and guilt; rational thinker driven by emotional and spiritual truth---Martin Luther King Jr. struggled to reconcile these divisions in his soul. . . . King profoundly experienced the movement as a sacred mission following a path of liberation and sacrifice pioneered by Moses and Jesus."
Burns declares: "Learning about his life and leadership has transformed my own." I am sure that this is Burns' desire for every reader of this fine book. Never static, King moved from "cautious liberal, to reluctant radical, to righteous revolutionary." Toward the end of his life, he stated that he had pushed for many important but piecemeal reforms in the South, but now he realized that America needed something much deeper, a revolution of values, a transformation of society.
An incident in January, 1956, typifies the best in King's ministry. His house had been bombed; his wife and daughter were in the house at the time. A thousand concerned and angry people gathered; some were armed. Tensions ran high; a riot was close to breaking out. King spoke to the crowd, urging them to be calm and nonviolent. As he spoke, the Spirit of God pervaded the scene, calming the crowd. A policeman commented, "If it hadn't been for that nigger preacher, we'd all be dead."
In moments of crisis, the Spirit anointed King, enabling him to speak powerfully into the crisis. And the people of God, even the masses, often sensed that God was acting on their behalf. Because of King's unique gift, his associates dubbed him "the Lawd."
As the pressures became intense, almost unbearable, King entered into a spiritual crisis, which became a transforming event. He felt weak, afraid; he was faltering, "at the end of my powers, . . . nothing left." Then God spoke: "Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness, stand up for justice, stand up for truth. And lo, I will be with you."
His favorite gospel song reflects this experience; every word was profoundly true to King:
Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.
Through the storm, through the night,
lead me on to the light.
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
On December 5, 1955, King was chosen to lead the Montgomery bus boycott and he spontaneously addressed the congregation. Burns notes:
"Yet by some uncanny act of grace, the breath of the Spirit . . . burst out of him in a jeweled torrent of unscripted words. . . . The faithful, King now among them, had conjured the kingdom of God in that place."
Afro Americans desperately needed both the Holy Spirit and the kingdom of God because the opposition was fierce and evil as documented in this handbill:
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to abolish the Negro race, proper methods should be used. Among these are guns, bows and arrows, sling shots and knives. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all whites are created equal with certain rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of dead niggers."
How does one combat such demonic, inhumane evil? "Gandhian nonviolence called for unconditional rejection of retaliation, even in self-defense." This would enable the Movement to seize and keep the higher moral ground; the evilness of evil would be seen more clearly. But this was a difficult calling. Early on, Rustin said to Martin: "I have the feeling the Lord has laid his hands on you and that is a dangerous, dangerous calling."
King combined Gandhian nonviolent mass action "with the black social gospel to create a synthesis of visionary but pragmatic non-violent politics." This approach combined two major biblical concepts---justice and love which could turn a broken community into the beloved community.
"In its outward projection the spiritual aggression grasped the adversary's conscience, awakening his moral sense by shaming, or by appealing to his higher values. Just as no physical harm would be inflicted, there would be no internal violence of spirit. . . . The aim was not to defeat or humiliate the adversary but to humanize him or her. . . . While aimed at redeeming the adversary, the spiritual force sought to eliminate the evil structure that the adversary served."
As Robert Kennedy observed the Birmingham riot, he feared that it might spread nationwide. So he invited James Baldwin, Lena Horne, Kenneth Clark, and freedom rider Jerome Smith to his New York apartment. "With volcanic anger that Kennedy had never before witnessed, Smith recounted his experience in the Deep South." Kennedy was shocked so he turned to the more respectable blacks in the room. Horne said there were many accomplished people in the room, but Smith was putting it "like it was." The intense discussion lasted three hours. Clark called it "one of the most violent, emotional assaults that I had ever witnessed." For the first time, Robert Kennedy began to grasp "the nature of black anguish." Soon Bobby pressed his brother, the president, to act on civil rights legislation.
King tried to learn from and build on President Lincoln. "Despite Lincoln's prophetic words and deeds, his supremely bloody war against southern white supremacy had not attained justice for black people." Freedom, yes; but justice, no; and soon most of that freedom was lost to segregation and sharecropping and misuse of the criminal justice system.
James Bevel, a brilliant and bold strategist, called for a March to Montgomery after the Selma beating:
"I had to get the people out of a state of grief. If you don't deal with the negative violence and grief, it turns into bitterness. . . . If you went back to some of the classic strategies of Gandhi, when you have a great violation of the people and there's a great sense of injury, you have to give people an honorable means and context in which to express and eliminate that grief and speak decisively back to the issue. Otherwise the movement will break down in violence and chaos."
When King saw firsthand the warlike destruction of the Watts riot, "he was absolutely undone." He now understood "that black oppression was economic as much as racial." A perspective that grew and resulted in the planning of the Poor People's March on Washington. At this time, King "began his journey from moderate radical to revolutionary. He was leaping beyond Lincoln into an unknown land." King said, "we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values." We must "wipe out the triple interlocking evils of racism, exploitation, and militarism." King wanted to create a "socially conscious democracy" which would reconcile "the opposing truth of individualism and collectivism."
In an afterword, entitled "Building the Beloved Community," Burns eloquently summarizes King's distinctive principles, but he does not show how to incarnate them in poor communities. This is where John Perkins enters the arena. John has specialized in the grassroots rebuilding of poor communities. Hundreds of Christian Community Development ministries now exist in poor communities across America---a fitting addition to the civil rights movement which John Perkins himself was involved in in Simpson County, Mississippi.
There may never be another King or Perkins, but each church as a collective should have a King or Perkins type ministry. What church will volunteer to do so? Remember Pastor/Pope Francis admonition to priest and people; "Leave the security of the sanctuary and enter into the suffering of the streets."
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