Sat Jan 19, 2008 7:07AM15 comments ›
Sat Jan 19, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Every Man a King, by Martha Thomases
Brilliant Disguise #40
In the kind of coincidence that seems manufactured for this campaign season, Dr. Martin Luther King is in the news during the same week that we celebrate his birth and life. In a speech last week, Senator Hillary Clinton said (among other things), “Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act... It took a president to get it done.” The media pounced on this as an attack on Senator Barack Obama and his alleged lack of experience in politics.They got it wrong.
Oh, sure, that may be what she meant to imply. And it’s certainly easier to cover a news story that’s nothing more than a war of words, a clash of personalities, a spat among gladiators in the electoral arena. It’s an easy narrative, one that pundits can discuss without having to do much actual studying or other work.
It is true that Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. It’s true that he, and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party at the time, along with liberal Republicans (yes, there were such people), were the parts of the government that worked towards this end.
Admirable, sure. But it’s not the whole story. None of this would have happened if Dr. King, and hundreds of thousands of others, had not marched in the streets to change the law. Hundreds of busloads of people went into Southern towns to help desegregate schools, encourage voter registration, and generally improve the democracy for which Americans are known. Some of these people died, murdered by local bigots. Others were injured in confrontations with police. Hundreds went to jail. Because of their commitment and sacrifice, the world is a better place.
When I was in elementary school, I often saw these events on the evening news. Even though I didn’t live in the South, I lived in a community that was largely segregated. Seeing the demonstrators marching for equality opened my mind to the possibilities of a richer, more diverse community.
Dr. King was a magnificent speaker, and his eloquence stirred the hopes and imagination of this particular young girl. And he was more than a speaker. He was an organizer of the first order. Through his efforts and those of others, the civil rights movement found common ground with the anti-war movement, the labor movement, and other groups devoted to social justice.
Notice how I keep including others when I talk about Dr. King. He was not the only one on the stage. He was not the only one in the movement. He was not the only one who started the movement.
It serves the people in power to perpetuate the myth that movements are created by a single, charismatic person. It serves these same people to create dissension among those not in power, to distract us from the real issues. In this year’s campaign, the media asks if African-Americans and Latinos hate each other, if blacks and women are on opposite sides. In past elections, there was allegedly strife between Jews and blacks. Somehow, no one questions that straight white men retain their control. No one is ever opposed to them.
In comics recently, we see the same kind of crisis mentality. They’re killing our favorite characters! They’re un-marrying Peter Parker! And there’s nothing we can do about it! Sure, there is. Don’t buy comics you don’t like. Try something else. Write fan-fiction that continues the stories the way you’d like to see them. Life is too short to knit with crummy yarn, and it’s too short to read comics that don’t give you pleasure.
Don’t be passive. Don’t accept the narrative of convenience. Go out and do something. I don’t really care what you do. Vote. Register other voters. Find a group that’s doing something you like, and spend an hour or two a week working with them as a volunteer. Take to the streets and put your body on the line for an issue. There’s a war on, and every day you do nothing, it gets worse. Every day you do something, it gets better.
Have a dream.
Martha Thomases, Media Goddess and nagging mother-figure of ComicMix, suggests that readers who want to know more read Dr. King’s writings.
Jump to comments (15) 
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Comments (15)
Rick Taylor (7:22 AM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
Martha. Always the activist! We need that!
Just like in Johnny O's column, this stuff happens because we let it. We need to fight back and make folks accountable. Vote and encourage others to do the same. No time for apathy.
Make a difference.
Elayne Riggs (7:57 AM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
You're in great company here, Martha. From Barbara Ehrenreich's blog: "Clinton's LBJ remark reveals something more worrisome than racial tone-deafness - a theory of social change that's as elitist as it is inaccurate. Black civil rights weren't won by suited men (or women) sitting at desks. They were won by a mass movement of millions who marched, sat in at lunch counters, endured jailings, and took bullets and beatings for the right to vote and move freely about. Some were students and pastors; many were dirt-poor farmers and urban workers. No one has ever attempted to list all their names. There's a problem too, of course, with the conventional abbreviation of the Civil Rights Movement into two names - Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. What about Fannie Lou Hamer, who led the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's delegation to the 19464 convention? What about Ella Baker, Fred Hampton, Stokely Carmichael and hundreds of other leaders? The Great Person theory of history may simplify textbook-writing, but leaves us with no clue as to how change actually happens."
That said, I was on 125th Street the other day and, heard Dr. King's voice coming from above a storefront near the Apollo Theatre. It was a TV monitor playing his "I Have A Dream" speech. While I've heard it countless times I was still mesmerized enough to stand there and listen again. After eight years of a bumbling cretin who can't string two words together properly, one forgets how starved one is for true eloquence.
Marilee J. Layman (9:01 PM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
Gwendolyn Britt, who spent 40 days in jail for sitting in the white waiting room in an airport. Who picketed an amusement park for not allowing blacks. A Maryland State senator who died this week.
John Tebbel (9:25 AM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
Speaking up for LBJ for the first time in my life, there was a lot to be done by the suits in DC and it was Johnson that got them to do it. JFK couldn't do it, he didn't have the pull in Congress that LBJ did. MLK couldn't because he was on the outside. They both did what they could do at the time and the bad guys are having a big laugh at us because we're in this stupid intramural snit. We can either hash this crap out or win in November. Keep your eye on the ball.
Martha Thomases (9:36 AM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
I don't believe I was dissing LBJ on these counts -- just saying it wasn't his doing all by himself. Societal change needs to come from every channel available.
John Tebbel (10:31 AM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
You're right. None of us can get there alone.
Howard Cruse (10:58 AM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
I get very fatigued by the "gotcha" reflex that's constantly going on, fanned by people who like a fight and by news commentators and "pundits" (didn't punditry once carry some implication of generally acknowledged wisdom?) who love having red meat to rant about. Clinton clearly intended to make a perfectly reasonable observation about the fact that implementation by individuals who understand how to manipulate the levers of power is required for noble ideals like those so eloquently espoused by King to be translated into policy. In this case, the head implementor happened to be LBJ and happened to be white. Nothing is being taken away from MLK or African-American activists by acknowledging that LBJ played a necessary role in getting the Civil Rights Law passed.
A "gotcha" frenzy is presently going on in response to Obama's mention that Reagan's election set America on a new trajectory. To say that is not to praise Reagan, just to observe a historical, if regrettable, fact.
Unfortunately it's "my man," John Edwards, who is fanning these latest flames. Please, John, stop. There's serious work to be done.
Valerie D'Orazio (10:06 AM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
Thought-provoking article, Martha. LBJ certainly did his part, but I think driving every revolution are the hundreds of everyday people who put themselves on the line every day.
Uncle Robbie (12:36 PM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
Martha, darling, can we we write you in as our choice for President in November? So far you're the best candidate I've heard.
Martha Thomases (3:27 PM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
Probably not. I inhaled (and dropped, and snorted). But thanks!
Rick Taylor (4:28 PM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
You say that like it was a BAD thing!
Hugz.
Joe in Philly (2:11 PM on Sun Jan 20, 2008)
I haven't inhaled or dropped or snorted, but you still would get my vote.
Mark Badger (2:18 PM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
I heard Obama was asked "When you get to Washinington how do we know you won't sell out like everyone else?" He said something like
"You don't, you need a movement of people to keep me honest and keep working from the outside. That's the only way anything is going to happen"
It's a real different approach then Clintonia great woman/man approach
Anonymous (9:49 AM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
Well said!
Got MLK?
Anonymous (9:55 AM on Sat Jan 19, 2008)
Yes, boys and girls. As long as Obama and Clinton and their supporters keep fighting over whether it should be a woman or a black man who breaks the lucky sperm club's hold on the presidency the evil empire is winning. We have to work together to put the best leader in the White House. But then, that would mean focusing on issues, and issues don't make good 30-second sound bites.