what does Martin Luther say about the life of Negroes
Answers
"The Negro is Part of That Huge Community Who Seek New Freedom in Every Area of Life"
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Date: February 1, 1959
Location: New York, N.Y.
How do we determine conjectured information? ?
Genre: Published Article
Topic: Labor Movement
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Nonviolence
In this context, the editors of Challenge addressed three questions to Dr. s the King.3
How doe struggle for Civil Rights relate to the broader social issues of our time?
Is non-violent direct action inadequate because Negroes are a minority of the American population ?
Does the Montgomery experience indicate that Negroes are being won to a principled pacifist point of view?
Following is Dr. King’s reply.
* * *
Negroes and Labor
Perhaps a special word is in order here about the American labor movement. The unions in this country still have a considerable distance to travel before they root out racism in their own structure. The documentation of Herbert Hill, the labor secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is impressive and conclusive on this count.4 And yet, with all of the changes which must be made within the labor movement, the American unions represent a major and natural ally of the Negroes in their striving for equal rights. The Negro, it must be emphasized again and again, is not set apart from other Americans. The fact of race hatred imposes a terrible deformation upon his life, but it is not the only fact of his life. The vast majority of Negroes in the United States face the problems of poverty, of slum housing and inadequate medicine as well as those of Jim Crow.
Today, the real issue is to make this “natural” alliance real and effective. In the 1958 election, Negroes worked along with the unions against “Right-to-Work laws, and the candidates of labor and liberalism stood for Civil Rights.5 Yet it is clear that these forces have not yet really reached a level of effectiveness. Their majority mandate is subject to minority veto through the structure of our political parties and undemocratic rule in Congress, as the results of the recent Senate debate on Rule 22 points up.6 It may well be that political realignment is a pre-condition for a real development of majority rule in the United States. But whatever the course of the struggle, there is no question that the fight for Civil Rights is integral to the indivisible cause of social justice in America. The Negro cannot win alone, or in a vacuum. The Negro is part of that huge community of Americans who seek new freedoms in every area of life.
I would summarize my answer to your first question this way: we stand for brotherhood, not for “Negro justice” and not for “white justice.” We reject black supremacy at the same moment as we reject white supremacy. And this fundamental value, this spiritual commitment, obliges us to take our rightful place in the campaign for the advancement of every single human right.
Inspired by Gandhi
Your third question is also quite important, for it is often a source of confusion. Non-violence can be approached on two levels, that of principle and that of action. Both are extremely important, yet they are distinct. I personally have been deeply moved and motivated by the inspiration of a teacher like Gandhi. To me, the non-violence we practiced in Montgomery is an application of my most profoundly held beliefs and Christian faith. I feel that we cannot organize ourselves on the basis of [hatred?], because if we do we will imitate the worst aspects of those who oppress us. Once again, for it cannot be repeated too often, we do not seek to counter white supremacy with black supremacy: we seek brotherhood.
In saying this, I am relating non-violence to my own most deeply-held values. But this does not mean that a principled commitment to non-violence, or even religious faith, is necessary before one can participate in a movement like the bus boycott. Far from it. It is quite possible, and even probable, that American Negroes will adopt non-violence as a means, an instrument, for the achievement of specific and limited ends. This was certainly true in the case of Gandhi himself, for many who followed him, like Nehru himself, did so on this kind of basis. Certainly, it would be wrong, and even disastrous, to demand principled agreement on non-violence as a pre-condition to non-violent action. What is required is the spiritual determination of the people to be true to the principle as it works in this specific action. This was the case in Montgomery, and it will continue to be the rule in further developments of our struggle.