Equal Rights

Martin's Legacy

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (Letter from the Birmingham Jail)

In April, 1963, just before Easter, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy brought their non-violent campaign to the most segregated city in America—Birmingham, AL. On April 10th, they gathered, dressed in their best Good Friday clothes, and joined with thousands of other African Americans to march for equal rights. Circuit Court Judge W.A. Jenkins issued a blanket injunction against “parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing, and picketing” that gave police permission to arrest and jail the leadership and disperse the crowd. After all, they were interfering with Easter shopping in the downtown department stores—the same stores that had segregated bathrooms and water fountains, and at whose food counters black people were not allowed to sit down and eat. While King and Abernathy were in jail, a newspaper article was published in the form of a letter from eight white pastors denouncing their non-violent movement as chaotic and destructive, and advising its leadership to go through the courts to obtain the rights they sought. They referred to King as an “outsider” come here to disrupt and agitate.

King's response, begun by writing in the margins of the newspaper on which the article appeared, was to explain the reasons for non-violent protest for change. He said that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action in the face of systemic racism. He assured them that his campaign for civil rights and freedoms was far better because it was non-violent than what might come afterward if they did not succeed. And, of course, he was right. He and other leaders of the movement like Ralph Abernathy, Rosa Parks and Fred Shuttlesworth changed the zeitgeist of America and the world. Unfortunately, the dark shadow of racism and inequality still hovers over us. Their work moved us along, but was unable to erase the stain.

I suppose the question for us fifty-five years later is this: Will we ever overcome our tendency toward tribalism? Will we ever, regardless of our race or ethnicity, become lovers of the other, regardless of their race or ethnicity? Will we learn to see one another as equals, as peers and as brothers and sisters united in this life and the next? Will we overcome the greed and tribal identity that causes us to marginalize people who are different from us? We have a long way to go. Martin Luther King, Jr. did his part to heighten our consciousness, but the goal of equality remains. That unfinished business is also part of his legacy—the part that he left for us to complete.

                                                        In the Spirit,

                                                           Jane