By R25288 ( c ) 2006-2008
Chapter Thirty-Six
Black History Month
“No one has been barred on account of his race from fighting or dying for America-there are no ‘white’ or ’colored’ signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle.”
John F. Kennedy, message to Congress(on proposed Civil Rights bill, 1963)
We Shall Overcome
As sung by Bruce Springsteen
Hey we shall overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome someday
Darlin’ here in my heart, yeah I do believe
We shall overcome someday
We’ll walk hand in hand, we’ll walk hand in hand
We’ll walk hand in hand someday
Darlin’ here in my heart, yeah I do believe
We’ll walk hand in hand someday
Well we shall live in peace, we shall live in peace
We shall live in peace someday
Darlin’ here in my heart, yeah I do believe
We shall live in peace someday
Well we are not afraid, we are not afraid
We shall overcome someday
Yeah here in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome someday
Hey we shall overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome someday
Darlin’ here in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome someday
We shall overcome someday
“It is not healthy when a nation lives within a nation, as colored Americans are living inside America. A nation cannot live confident of its tomorrow if its refugees are among its citizens.”
Pearl S. Buck, What America Means to Me
In January, 2005, while I prepared for my Black History Speech to present again to the inmates at Liberty Correctional Institution, I put these words together and gave them to my love, J.D.:
Dear J.D.,
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a hero of mine, and influenced my marching for the Civil Rights of African Americans, in the 1960’s, and for that, being labeled a “Nigger Lover,” which I remain today.
It was December, 1955, at the age of twenty-six, with Rosa Parks by his side, in Montgomery, Alabama, when Martin said:
“You know my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled by the brutal feet of oppression. There comes a time, my friends, when people get tired of…humiliation. We are here this evening because we are tired now. We had no alternative but to protest.
“For many years we have shown amazing patience. We have given our white brothers the feeling that we like the way we are being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice!
“Now let us say that we are not calling for violence, We have overcome that. I want it known throughout Montgomery and throughout this nation that we are a Christian people. We believe in the teachings of Jesus. The only weapon we have in our hands is the weapon of protest.
“We are protesting for the birth of justice in our community…We are guided by the highest principles of law and order. In spite of our mistreatment, we must not become bitter and end up by hating our white brothers.”
In 1963, in a Letter From A Birmingham Jail, Martin wrote:
“…an unjust law is no law at all. It is better to go to jail with dignity than to accept segregation in humility…We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.”
In Washington, D.C., on August 28th, 1963, I watched from a Philadelphia project TV, as Martin said:
“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American meaning of its creed, ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.’
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
“I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
“I have a dream today!
“I have a dream that one day in Alabama…little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
“I have a dream today!
“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight…With this faith…we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day…And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true…
“When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the Negro spiritual:
‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
In February, 1968, speaking at the Ebeneezer Baptist Church, in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin said:
“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. Every now and then I ask myself, ‘What is it that I 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.
“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.
“I’d like somebody to mention 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. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say, on that day, that I did try to visit those in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.
“Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness.
“And all of the other shallow things will not matter. 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.”
On April 3rd, 1968, before 7,000 striking garbage workers, in Memphis, Tennessee, on his last night on planet earth, Martin said:
“If I were standing at the beginning of time, and God offered to let me choose what age I shall live in, I would choose this, our time.
“Now, that’s a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. But only when it’s dark enough can you see the stars…
“It’s all right to talk about ‘long white robes over yonder,’ in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here.
“It’s all right to talk about ’streets flowing with milk and honey,’ but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can’t eat three square meals a day.
“Its all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, Gods’ preacher must talk about the new New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee.
“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind.
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.
“And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land.
“I’m happy tonight. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
All My Love, Chris
I memorized it, and presented it in the Chapel at Liberty to J.D and 100 plus other inmates, all of whom gave me a standing ovation.
“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.”
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
What A Wonderful World
By Louis Armstrong
I see trees of green….red roses too
I see ‘em bloom…for me and for you
And I think to myself…what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue…clouds of white
Bright blessed days…dark sacred nights
And I think to myself…what a wonderful world.
The colors of a rainbow…so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces…of people going by
I see friends shaking hands…sayin’..how do you do
They’re really sayin’…I love you.
I hear babies cry…I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more…than I’ll never know
And I think to myself…what a wonderful world.
(instrumental break)
The colors of a rainbow…so pretty in the sky
Are there on the faces…of people going by
I see friends shaking hands…sayin’..how do you do
They’re really sayin’…*spoken* (I…love…you).
I hear babies cry…I watch them grow
*spoken*(you know they’re gonna learn a whole lot more than I’ll never know)
And I think to myself…what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself…what a wonderful world.
“After all, there is but one race-humanity.”
George Moore, The Bending of the Bough
J.D. and I wish you and yours a Beautiful Black History Month, and I invite you to communicate with him at www.myspace.com/jdluvsce
