Posted: 1/18/2015
Trigger
Just watched this documentary titled “MLK: THE ASSASSINATION TAPES” on the Smithsonian Channel. This documentary contains a lot of interesting footage from before the assassination of MLK.
A Pattern Of Confrontation
What caught my attention was that MLK apparently displayed a pattern of peculiar confrontation, first in Birmingham, AL later in Memphis, TN. I presume, MLK deliberately chose these two locations for his activities. In both locations, he directly confronted or challenged a powerful white individual known for having extreme views. In Birmingham it was the Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor in Memphis it was the mayor Henry Loeb.
The documentary also pointed out that this all happened during the very contentious Vietnam War period. Was it a good idea to push aggressively for civil rights during a time of extreme tension?
Reflections About The Documentary
- I believe, the above documentary did not mention at all that the mayor of Memphis at the time, Henry Loeb, was a conservative, outspoken anti communist, and segregationist Democrat. Would this tough appearing mayor acted much differently had the sanitation workers been white? A question the above documentary never explored.
- The above documentary fails to mention, if I remember correctly, that not all sanitation workers were black (see e.g. New York Times obituary of Loeb)
- As the documentary was pointing out the position of the mayor was as follows “The Mayor argued that the strike was illegal under state law.”(Source above NYT article). I believe, the above documentary never explained what this meant
- I was unaware about the massive rioting in conjunction with the sanitation worker strike going on for weeks that occurred before the assassination. If I remember correctly from the above documentary, martial law and a curfew were imposed by the mayor, national guard soldiers were in the streets guarding businesses and so on. So did MLK and his entourage (e.g. Jesse Jackson) contribute to a more peaceful development or to an improvement of the situation? I suspect that because the assassination overshadowed everything afterwards the prehistory has been what appears conveniently forgotten or downplayed.
- Despite the rioting going on in the city, MLK decided to visit the city a second time
- If I remember correctly, a scene from the above documentary shows MLK stating something like it was “criminal” to pay full time workers (referring to the sanitation workers) only part time wages. This is a very strong, offensive statement coming from a man who said he was sent by god. Did he get the facts right? Were perhaps white workers treated similar at the time?
- The documentary showed public pronouncements by Reverend James Lawson, an associate of MLK, which came across as if from an aggressive, uncompromising politician than from a reverend on behalf of the strikers
- Apparently, mayor Loeb was up against some powerplay by public sector unions (e.g. AFSCME or American Federation of Federal, State, County, and Municipal Employees), which were playing hard ball to unionize city employees and workers. How much was MLK aware of this and what was his view on that was, I believe, not quite clear from the documentary
- As an aside, the footage of Ted Kennedy speaking in Memphis after the assassination is illuminating. He reads from his notes almost never taking his eyes of. He comes away as an amateur or third rated politician.
Quotes From MLK’s Last Speech
The AFSCME posts his last speech under their history on their website here.
“Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be. And force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God's children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out. That's the issue. And we've got to say to the nation: we know it's coming out. For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.”
“We aren't going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces; they don't know what to do, I've seen them so often. I remember in Birmingham, Alabama, when we were in that majestic struggle there we would move out of the 16th Street Baptist Church day after day; by the hundreds we would move out. And Bull Connor would tell them to send the dogs forth and they did come; but we just went before the dogs singing, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me round." Bull Connor next would say, "Turn the fire hoses on." And as I said to you the other night, Bull Connor didn't know history.”
These are very confrontational, dangerous, and aggressive words coming from a man of nonviolence. His language was anything but nonviolent. These are words coming from a standpoint of strong self-righteousness. In a previous blog post about MLK, I have quoted from this speech as well.
Best Friend Of The White People
The above documentary shows an interview with a African-american activist in the aftermath of the assassination saying something like a white man just killed the best friend of the white people.
If I remember correctly from the above documentary and other footage that I have seen about MLK, then I would ask how many white people were actually in the inner circle of MLK? E.g. the above documentary did not show any, if I am correct.
Conspiracy Theory
I wondered why I had never learned of a prominent conspiracy theory surrounding the assassination of MLK.
Apparently when you do some research you find one. Not only that it is pursued even by the surviving King family (by Coretta Scott King and Dexter King). See Wikipedia articles here, here, and here.
The National Archives Material For Teachers
On this website of National Archives/Teacher’s Resources/Teaching with documents I found following (emphasis added):
- “The Montgomery bus boycott, the freedom rides, the Birmingham campaign, the March on Washington, the Selma march, the Chicago campaign, and the Memphis boycott are some of the more noteworthy battlefields where King and his followers--numerous in numbers, humble and great in name-- fought for the equal rights and equal justice that the United States Constitution ensures for all its citizens.”
[What a bellicose and glorifying language by the federal government] - “King, building on the tradition of civil disobedience and passive resistance earlier expressed by Thoreau, Tolstoy, and Gandhi, waged a war of nonviolent direct action against opposing forces of racism and prejudice”
[I am not sure whether any of the three named authorities would have agreed with MLK and his methods.]
The National Archives presents among other things an “exhibit is a flyer distributed in the name of MLK to sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee” wherein the second paragraph says “This will be a march of dignity. The only force we will use is soul-force which is peaceful, loving, courageous, yet militant” (emphasis added). Do I sense a huge contradiction here?
Why A Series Of Blogs About MLK
This is only the latest blog post in a series of blogs about MLK I have written. Here are the other blog posts:
Martin Luther King Jr. Was A Radical Zealot
Martin Luther King Jr. Was A Radical Zealot
As I said before, there is absolutely no justification whatsoever for the murder of MLK. However, the immense adoration for MLK, the martyr, should be reviewed. MLK was certainly no saint.
I would also guess that MLK has been exploited by liberals and Democrats.
Had MLK lived on, as we all wish and he himself wished, I would guess, we would see him today in a very different light.
I think, in many ways MLK was an irresponsible, obsessive single-minded leader deliberately fueling the flames and claiming non-violence in a time of a controversial war and severe anti-war tensions following the assassinations of JFK and Malcolm X.
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