I am not at all certain that even yet, nearly 50 years following his death in 1968, we wholly appreciate the lucid genius of the intellectual side of Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.
This thought again assailed me, as I read in WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE: CHAOS OR COMMUNITY (1967), his final book, as he quotes, dialectically analyzes, synthesizes, distinguishes, and finally disposes, of many seemingly, reasonable assertions of another preeminent intellectual of our people, the great World War II novelist, John O. Killens, author of AND THEN WE HEARD THE THUNDER (1964).
Dr. King wrote:
"My friend John Killens recently wrote in the 'Negro Digest ': 'Integration comes after liberation. A slave cannot integrate with his master. In the whole history of revolts and revolutions , integration has never been the main slogan of the revolution. The oppressed fights to free himself from his oppressor, not to integrate with him. Integration is the step after freedom when the freedman makes up his mind as to whether he wishes to integrate with his former master.'
"At first glance this sounds very good . But after reflection one has to face some inescapable facts about the Negro and American life. This is a multiracial nation where all groups are dependent on each other, whether they want to recognize it or not. In this vast interdependent nation no racial group can retreat to an island entire of itself. The phenomenon of integration and liberation cannot be as neatly divided as Killens would have it.
"There is no theoretical or sociological divorce between liberation and integration. In our kind of society liberation cannot come without integration and integration cannot come without liberation. I speak here of integration in both the ethical and the political senses. On the one hand, integration is true intergroup, interpersonal living. On the other hand, it is the mutual sharing of power. I cannot see how the Negro will be totally liberated from the crushing weight of poor education, squalid housing and economic strangulation until he is integrated, with power, into every level of American life.
"Mr. Killens ' assertion might have some validity in a struggle for independence against a foreign invader. But the Negro's struggle is quite different from and more difficult than the struggle for independence. The American Negro will be living tomorrow with the very people against whom he is struggling today. The American Negro is not in a Congo where the Belgians will go back to Belgium after the battle is over , or in an India where the British will go back to England after Independence is won. In the struggle for national independence one can talk about liberation now and integration later, but in the struggle for racial justice in a multiracial society where the oppressor and the oppressed are both 'at home,' liberation must come through integration.
"Are we seeking power for power 's sake? Or are we seeking to make the world and our nation better places to live. If we seek the latter, violence can never provide the answer. The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy . Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it . Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you cannot murder hate. In fact, violence increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiples violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars . Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.
"The beauty of nonviolence is that in its own way and in its own time it seeks to break the chain reaction of evil . With a majestic spiritual power, it seeks to elevate truth, beauty and goodness to the throne. Therefore I will continue to follow this method because I think it is the most practically sound and morally excellent way for the Negro to achieve freedom."
P. 70-73, "Black Power"
Monday, August 29, 2016
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
I am not at all certain that even yet, nearly 50 years following his death in 1968, we wholly appreciate the lucid genius of the intellectual side of Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.
This thought again assailed me, as I read in WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE: CHAOS OR COMMUNITY (1967), his final book, as he quotes, dialectically analyzes, synthesizes, distinguishes, and finally disposes, of many seemingly, reasonable assertions of another preeminent intellectual of our people, the great World War II novelist, John O. Killens, author of AND THEN WE HEARD THE THUNDER (1964).
Dr. King wrote:
"My friend John Killens recently wrote in the 'Negro Digest ': 'Integration comes after liberation. A slave cannot integrate with his master. In the whole history of revolts and revolutions , integration has never been the main slogan of the revolution. The oppressed fights to free himself from his oppressor, not to integrate with him. Integration is the step after freedom when the freedman makes up his mind as to whether he wishes to integrate with his former master.'
"At first glance this sounds very good . But after reflection one has to face some inescapable facts about the Negro and American life. This is a multiracial nation where all groups are dependent on each other, whether they want to recognize it or not. In this vast interdependent nation no racial group can retreat to an island entire of itself. The phenomenon of integration and liberation cannot be as neatly divided as Killens would have it.
"There is no theoretical or sociological divorce between liberation and integration. In our kind of society liberation cannot come without integration and integration cannot come without liberation. I speak here of integration in both the ethical and the political senses. On the one hand, integration is true intergroup, interpersonal living. On the other hand, it is the mutual sharing of power. I cannot see how the Negro will be totally liberated from the crushing weight of poor education, squalid housing and economic strangulation until he is integrated, with power, into every level of American life.
"Mr. Killens ' assertion might have some validity in a struggle for independence against a foreign invader. But the Negro's struggle is quite different from and more difficult than the struggle for independence. The American Negro will be living tomorrow with the very people against whom he is struggling today. The American Negro is not in a Congo where the Belgians will go back to Belgium after the battle is over , or in an India where the British will go back to England after Independence is won. In the struggle for national independence one can talk about liberation now and integration later, but in the struggle for racial justice in a multiracial society where the oppressor and the oppressed are both 'at home,' liberation must come through integration.
"Are we seeking power for power 's sake? Or are we seeking to make the world and our nation better places to live. If we seek the latter, violence can never provide the answer. The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy . Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it . Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you cannot murder hate. In fact, violence increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiples violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars . Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.
"The beauty of nonviolence is that in its own way and in its own time it seeks to break the chain reaction of evil . With a majestic spiritual power, it seeks to elevate truth, beauty and goodness to the throne. Therefore I will continue to follow this method because I think it is the most practically sound and morally excellent way for the Negro to achieve freedom."
P. 70-73, "Black Power"