The MLK of yesterday and today

IF BANKERS had their way, the August 24 march and rally in Portland, Ore., would have been called the "Wells Fargo 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington." The irony is that even though the bankers didn't get their way, those of us who are actively involved in the struggles for justice today didn't get our way either.

The speeches from religious leaders and politicians made no demands in solidarity with local, national or international struggles. For an event in honor of a rally that was rooted in the struggles of 1963, the lack of connection to struggles in 2013 was reflected in the attendance that was nowhere near the thousands--even up to 10,000 people--that organizers had projected.

It could have been different. Thousands could have gathered--and likely would have gathered--to march in solidarity with and hear from Black and Brown youth who are still judged by the color of their skin instead of the content of their character; to hear from those whose quest for freedom, as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed it in 1963, has left them battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality; to hear from those who teach our children in the city's public schools declare the obvious--that no amount of standardized testing or attacks on union contracts will effectively address the lonely island of poverty in which far too many children continue to live.

Dr. Cornel West explained the irony as well as anyone could during a recent interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now:

Brother Martin would not be invited to the very march in his name because he would talk about drones, he'd talk about Wall Street criminality, he'd talk about the working class being pushed to the margins as profits went up for corporate executives and their compensation. He'd talk about the legacies of white supremacy. Do you think anybody at that march would talk about drones? And the drone President? Do you think anybody at that march would talk about the connection to Wall Street?

THE MARCH in Portland proved West correct. If he had been alive, Dr. King would not have been invited to the stage. After all, he might have drawn upon wisdom from another one of his speeches. He might have thought the chances were slim that a similar celebration would be held in honor of his "Beyond Vietnam" speech's 50th birthday, so he might have included words from that speech while he had the chance:

I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in the Middle East. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken.

With one small change--substituting "the Middle East" for "Vietnam"--Dr. King would have spoken words that are just as true today as they were when he spoke them at Manhattan's Riverside Church on August 4, 1967.

This speech, in which King highlighted "individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money [around the world], only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries" shows just how far we haven't come in 50 years.

Dr. King would have stressed the importance of connecting the struggles by reminding us of times when ignoring one injustice in favor of another brought us no closer to justice on any issue. Like in 1967, following his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, when the NAACP criticized King for connecting two so-called separate issues: civil rights and antiwar sentiment.

A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of murdering human beings with drones, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men and women home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically damaged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

With two small changes--including "women" on the battlefields and swapping "murdering with drones" for "burning with napalm"--Dr. King would have shown that our past is our present.

KING WOULD also have talked about the latest injustice being unleashed by the military. In the midst of layoffs by the thousands, the military is issuing discharge statuses which are so low that service members don't qualify for benefits.

He would have connected the injustices of this scenario which puts veterans side-by-side with low-wage workers. The livelihoods and well-being of both groups are being carved closer to the bone of poverty so that wealthy CEOs and Pentagon officials can continue making millions.

He would have pointed to the important work of volunteers, like those at Coffee Strong, a service member and veterans' rights center near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, for assisting veterans in obtaining discharge upgrades so they can receive the very benefits they were told would be theirs when they enlisted: "Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism."

King's analysis of what is required of us – to declare eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism--would have been just as well-received in 2013. Had Dr. King lived longer than one year to the day after delivering the "Beyond Vietnam" speech, he might have crafted another speech called "Beyond Capitalism." He might have eventually spoken for the need to declare eternal hostility to capitalism, a system that simultaneously creates and feeds off of poverty, racism and militarism.

King would have spoken from the experience of a person who was arrested 30 times, whose privacy and civil rights were invaded by federal agencies, who addressed the effects of war on soldiers long before post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had a name, and whose family maintained their stance against the death penalty even after King's mother, Alberta Williams King, was shot and killed by a mentally-ill man during a Sunday service at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

"Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message--of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history."

Dr. King would have reminded us that these words were spoken before climate change--and all of the ecological devastation that accompanies it--was accepted as fact by the rational thinkers among us. These words were spoken before the "war on drugs" allowed police to declare open hunting season on Black and Brown communities. Before nearly 3 million human beings were warehoused in U.S. prisons. Before one in six women were sexually assaulted. Or one in three, if in the military. Before suicide topped combat as the number one killer of soldiers, sailors, and Marines.

Before Chelsea Manning became a prisoner for exposing war crimes. Before gay, queer, and transgender youth were four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. Before Wall Street was bailed out by Main Street. Before Troy Davis was murdered by the state of Georgia. Before Chicago's teachers decided their students deserve better. Before Walmart workers decided they deserve better, too. Before drones could legally murder military-age males for simply being military-age males. Before presidents could act as judge and jury in authorizing the assassinations of U.S. citizens. Before ALEC funded "stand your ground" laws and attempted to privatize the U.S. Post Office. Before Florida put a murdered child on trial only to let a murderer go free. Before Florida put an abused mother in prison under the same law which let the child-murderer go free. Before Edward Snowden did more to promote democracy than any amount of data stolen and stored by the National Security Agency ever could.

If he had been invited to his own party, Dr. King would have reminded us that if August 24 has any chance of contributing to a more humane world, it will be because we choose to organize in solidarity with the demands of those struggling against all forms of oppression and exploitation. It will be because we choose to approach August 24 as preparation for August 25--and August 26, and the weeks, months, and years to come.

"Shall we say the odds are too great?" Dr. King might have repeated. "The struggle too hard? The choice is ours."
Nicole Bowmer, Portland, Ore.