Balkinization: Mitt meditates on Martin Luther King

Mitt meditates on Martin Luther King

Sandy Levinson

Mitt Romney issued the following message concerning Martin Luther King:

"On this day, we honor the vision and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who devoted his life to fulfilling the truth revealed at our nation's founding that all men are created equal. He proved that one man with a dream can make a difference. While we have made great strides, there is still much work to be done to ensure all Americans prosper economically, have access to affordable health care, and receive a quality education. The failure of our inner city schools is the great civil rights issue of our time.

Dr. King's life serves as an inspiration to all Americans and to liberty-loving people all over the world who aspire for freedom where it is threatened or does not exist."

I suppose it's a bit unfair to subject this to overly close analysis. Mitt is trying his best to honor a truly great man, and that's better than his ignoring the day. But there are two major problems that are worth at least a bit of analysis.

First, though Dr King no doubt believed in "liberty," I think it's fair to say that he defined himself primarily in terms of a striving for social justice, which is equivalent to liberty only among devoted libertarians. Might not Mitt (or his message writer) have used the word "justice" at least once? Perhaps he might have recalled (assuming he ever knew) the magnificent ending to the sermon that King preached at the Ebeneezer Baptist Church on February 4, 1968:

Every now and then I guess we all think realistically (Yes, sir) about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator—that something that we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning. If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes) I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)
I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)
I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)
And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)
I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)
I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. [emphasis added] (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.
If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,
If I can spread the message as the master taught,
Then my living will not be in vain.
Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.

One can only wonder what King would have thought of Mitt's positions on, say, illegal immigrants, doubling the size of Guantanamo, or never finding a single individual during his governorship worthy of clemency (including a veteran who risked his life in Iraq but had shot a gun at someone else as a child).

Secondly, although it's true at one level that King "proved that one man with a dream can make a difference," it's even more true, I think, to say that he proved that one man with a dream who was capable of invigorating a mass movement that, among other things, engaged in civil disobedience and social disruption, could make a difference (especially with the ultimate support of such a visionary president as Lyndon B. Johnson). It is important to honor King, but it may be even more important to honor the far more anonymous, equally courageous, African-Americans (and, yes, white Americans) who put their bodies on the line and, in some cases, equally paid with their lives for daring to believe in the Declaration of Independence and its promise of equality (a promise strikingly lacking in our 1787 Constitution, as Thurgood Marshall explained during the Bicentennial).

A drum major needs a marching band behind him (or her). Otherwise s/he is merely a tragic (or, indeed, ridiculous and self-deluded) figure. In honoring the drum major, we should honor his magnificent band as well, for they made Martin Luther King Day possible. My wife was in Birmingham last week interviewing now-middle-aged adults who 45 years ago participated in the "children's march" in Birmingham that, by drawing the crazed response from Bull Connor, finally moved the otherwise indifferent John F. Kennedy to recognize what was happening and to move toward introducing his Civil Rights Bill (that Johnson in fact got passed). Several of them, including one women who was eight years old at the time, recalled that King was capable through his quiet eloquence of dampening their own fears and creating what to me was an almost literally incredible sense of calm and inner peace. (That particular eighth-year-old spent a week in jail before being released.) And, lest we forget, he emphasized, above all, love and non-violence (notions that today seem to most of us the equivalent of "fairy tales") . Mitt is surely not the only American who should ponder the implications of the truly radical figure who was Martin Luther King.

Posted 9:58 PM by Sandy Levinson [link]

Comments:

I don't think the "revealed truth" description is accurate. MLK was more concerned that all men are treated equally than created equally.

# posted by

NAL : 10:26 AM

Prof. Levinson:

First, though Dr King no doubt believed in "liberty," I think it's fair to say that he defined himself primarily in terms of a striving for social justice, which is equivalent to liberty only among devoted libertarians.

Indeed. And also the real message of Christ ("What you do to the least of us, you do to me" and "turn the other cheek"). JC was a revolutionary in many ways.

At the time of his assassination, MLKII had also touched on the ar in Vietnam. I blogged a bit of one speech of his three years ago on MLK Day.

Cheers,

# posted by

Arne Langsetmo : 12:10 PM

BTW, "turn the other cheek" is not the same as "Go in the fetal position"....

"Turn the other cheek" is an active response, not a passive one. In doing so, you take control of yourself, and of the situation.

Cheers,

# posted by

Arne Langsetmo : 12:25 PM

BTW, "turn the other cheek" is not the same as "Go in the fetal position"....

"Turn the other cheek" is an active response, not a passive one. In doing so, you take control of yourself, and of the situation.

Turning the other cheek is a most subtle act of defiance. Presumably the person who hit you in the face was trying either to intimidate you or to provoke a fight. By turning the other cheek you are refusing to play the other person's script and offering a most unexpected response. A sort of moral judo.

# posted by

Essayist-Laywer : 2:16 PM

Professor Levinson:

During MLK day, we in the GOP and I dare say most Americans are celebrating only one dimension of a sanitized King - the belief so eloquently expressed in the DC "I have a dream' speech that people should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

In fact, as you note, King ended up being a far more radical figure, supporting racial preferences, socialism, forced redistribution of wealth and attacks in US "militarism."

Folks like Romney concentrate on the Dream because they do no support any of the rest of King's agenda. Romney would not be caught dead using the liberal spin term "social justice" because those who believe in liberty and anyone who has lived under actual socialism knows that there is nothing "just" about government force compelled theft from disfavored groups to favored groups.

# posted by

Bart DePalma : 3:49 PM

Folks like Romney concentrate on the Dream because they do no support any of the rest of King's agenda.

Great. Would be nice if they would be honest and up-front about it then, and say that they like the "Dream" speech and think he's a fine orator and yes, we should be for equality and not caring about skin colour and all, but all that other cr*p that MLKII was trying to do was commie ... and didn'cha know he was a <*PSSST!sotto voce*> ... adulterous satyr, Hoover's got the tapes to prove it.... Doubt it, though.

My post on MLKII day three years ago (see link above) gives a bit more rounded picture of the man.

King ended up being a far more radical figure....

Yeah. I noted that too. "Bart" wants to ignore my take on that.

Cheers,

# posted by

Arne Langsetmo : 5:51 PM

picking up on nal's comment, mitt's use of "revealed" is also notably sloppy. i'm fairly certain that the truth that all men are created equal didn't have to wait for the Declaration to be 'revealed' - especially given that jefferson and the other founders almost certainly didn't have black people in mind when they wrote those words.

# posted by

Nate Bernhard : 8:16 PM

"Would be nice if they would be honest and up-front about it then,"

Romney is a politician, and politicians are not honest and up front about the clay feet of people the public, for better or worse, idolize. An honest and up front response to MLK day would assure Romney's defeat.

Better to remember the admirable stage of MLK's career, and gloss over the latter part.

# posted by

Brett : 8:27 PM

Brett:

An honest and up front response to MLK day would assure Romney's defeat.

Why, pray tell? Not enough Republicans around?

Better to remember the admirable stage of MLK's career, and gloss over the latter part.

Why, pray tell? Is it really a good strategy to be dishonest in the quest for power? Ummm ... hmmm ... Dubya ... oh, right, silly question.

Cheers,

# posted by

Arne Langsetmo : 11:23 PM

"Is it really a good strategy to be dishonest in the quest for power?"

In a moral sense? Of course not. Does it work? On the evidence, yes. I'm explaining why Romney is doing what he's doing, not endorsing it.

Try to be honest about public icons like MLK, and the media will crucify you. The media likes their plaster saints whitewashed.

# posted by

Brett : 5:11 PM

I'm a white american and I love that MLK ended up supporting racial preferences, socialism, and reparations.

Last I knew Mitt, he was ranting and raving and trying to reverse same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. Although I understand that these days he is playing moderate to trick you all.

# posted by

Corey : 8:54 PM

By my count, King's "I have a dream" speech refers to "free" or "freedom" 25 times. He began by describing the march as "the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation." Perhaps he should have chosen different words?

(It's probably true that it wasn't a value emphasized by the later King--a figure who was much more radical than the King of 1963. But there's certainly nothing wrong with honoring a particular vision of King--whether it's the one Sandy likes or the one Mitt likes.)

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