An excerpt from a speech given by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama, March 25, 1965

         ...I know there is a cry today in Alabama, we see it in numerous editorials: "When will Martin Luther King...and all of these civil rights agitators and all of the white clergymen and labor leaders and students and others get out of our community and let Alabama return to normalcy?"

         But I have a message that I would like to leave with Alabama. That is exactly what we don't want, and we will not allow it to happen, for we know that it was normalcy in Marion and led to the brutal murder of Jimmy Lee Jackson. It was normalcy in Birmingham that led to the murder on Sunday morning of four beautiful innocent girls. It was normalcy by a café in Selma, Alabama, that led to the brutal beating of Reverend James Reeb.

         [Dear Reader, We reminded ourselves that Rev. Reeb was a Unitarian minister from All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, DC.]

         ...The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy that recognizes the dignity and worth of all of God's children. The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy that allows judgment to run down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy of brotherhood, the normalcy of true peace, the normalcy of justice.

Sermon

         Life must have been unbearable for black people in the 1950s. How was it for them here in New England? Or was it that southern Massachusetts was different from other places? [Dear Reader, People later shared that they witnessed no disrespect of blacks. Another said, it was more a case of "ignoring them".]

         My sister-in-law, Theresa Brautigam, who lives in Maine, told me that she had never seen a black person until she was in her teens. In the early 1950s, she and two girlfriends went on a motoring vacation down the East Coast. One day, they stopped at a small town in North Carolina and went into a diner for lunch. They were looking at the menu when two young black men came in. The waitress shouted, "Get out! This is a whites only diner!" The three girls were startled at this rudeness and one of them called out, "If this place is not good enough for them, it's not good enough for us!" and they all got up and left.

         This was only one of the many things they felt were outrageous and disrespectful to black people in the South. It was shocking to witness the things they'd only heard about before. What they weren't prepared for was what happened in Hartford, Connecticut on their way back home. Two young women, one white and one black, were going into the drugstore together. An elderly gentleman put his walking cane across the doorway and told the black girl she could not enter the store! Theresa said, "What would have happened if Martin Luther King, Jr. had never been born?" It's a good question!

         In her book My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King talked about the years she and Martin spent in graduate school in Boston. It has been a most interesting thing for me to learn about Martin Luther King, Jr. through her eyes. She said, "... Blacks were isolated, which is why 'integration' was so superficial in the Boston community....though the centers of learning were at least nominally integrated, they were so big and impersonal that no special effort was made to bring African Americans into campus activities. This isolation was partly due to the fact that in Boston there is a kind of coldness, a formality, that is so different from the South.... Martin and I realized that there was a possibility of mingling with whites if we wanted to make the effort. But it would have been an effort, because at that time the social climate was not sufficiently permissive for blacks and whites to feel comfortable enough to be together naturally..." (King, p.56)

         Coretta Scott was born and raised in a farming community outside Marion, Alabama. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born into an urban community in Atlanta, Georgia. The Baptist church was the center of the Scott family life. The African Methodist Episcopal or AME Church was the center of the King family life with Daddy King being the pastor of one of Atlanta's most prestigious pulpits.

         Coretta and her older sister Edythe were brilliant students. They both won scholarships to Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, which was established by the famous Unitarian educator Horace Mann and one of the first integrated institutions. She took to heart Horace Mann's words, "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." (King, p.56)

         Although Coretta experienced some racist attitudes at Antioch, she was grateful for her excellent education that helped her develop a sense of confidence and personal worth. There was an emphasis on service to humankind. The college provided her with outstanding music studies. She majored in voice and had the great experience of singing in concert with Paul Robeson who encouraged her to go on with her studies. She felt that Antioch prepared her well for the future role she would play as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s wife.

         She said, upon leaving Antioch, "I decided that I wanted to identify myself with a church or religious body that was more liberal than the kind I was brought up in. I intended to investigate the Quakers and Unitarianism. I was, in effect, dissatisfied with organized religion as I knew it and sought to find a faith with which I could identify totally." (King, p.51) She graduated in 1951 and went to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

         Martin Luther King, Jr. had also been a brilliant student and went to college when he was 15 years old. By the age of 22years, he was studying for his Ph.D. at Boston University School of Theology-my own alma mater. They are very, very proud of him there.

         A mutual friend introduced Coretta and Martin. Within one hour of meeting Coretta, Martin said that she had the four things that he wanted in a wife-character, intelligence, personality, and beauty. Coretta was fascinated with the extremely mature 22-year old Martin's devotion to the non-violent ideas of Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi. Coretta Scott gave up a promising career as a singer to marry Martin, but she never doubted for a minute that she had a vital part to play in Martin's life who would surely do great things.

         I have always been fascinated with Coretta King's demeanor. She seems at once proud and self-possessed. She ascribes her high cheekbones to her paternal grandfather, who was part American Indian. She and Martin married in 1953 and were a support for one another in the last years of graduate school.

         In 1946, President Truman had appointed a Commission on Civil Rights. When Martin was called to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, the Civil Rights movement was already vibrant. Martin was plunged immediately into the center of the struggle. His ideals of non-violent action were always foremost in his mind. Other black clergy recognized the spiritual power in this approach and Martin quickly became their leader. Martin was certain that "hatred between races and nations is rooted in fear; that most wars are caused not by hatred but by fear. Racial injustice in America, Martin said, was caused by white people's fear of blacks' advancing status." (King, p.96) He believed that racial injustice mars the soul of the white man. He was sure that his fight for racial justice was redeeming the white race.

         From 1956 to 1963, Martin worked tirelessly for racial justice through non-violent means. Their house was firebombed. There were thousands of threats on their lives. During the most difficult times, Martin called President Truman for help. Truman never responded. But President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy did. The battle between the State and Federal governments was bitter and difficult. Southern police departments met demonstrations with violence, hoping to provoke violence in blacks. Martin and other clergy were arrested dozens of times. They vowed to choose jail rather than bail. Oftentimes, police commissioners anonymously paid the fines themselves so as not to bring the press into town. It was difficult for Martin to persuade the people to maintain their superior and spiritual non-violent stance, particularly when they called upon their children to march and the children were attacked. At one time 900 youth were jailed.

         Like the prophets of the Bible, Martin believed that ministers should be leaders in social progress. (The first black President of our Association, Bill Sinkford, believes the same thing. How is it for you when I raise up to you and the community what I believe so that you can consider what you believe? I assure you that I don't expect us all to agree. We should challenge one another and be in respectful dialog always. By this we will all grow!)

         Coretta Scott King begins her book with the time when Martin received word of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, shortly after the August 1963 march on Washington and the famous "I Have a Dream" speech. In November of that year, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The Kings were convinced that Kennedy was killed because of his support of racial justice.

         Martin always had a sense that he would be killed. He said to Coretta, "This is going to happen to me, too.... I'll never see my fortieth birthday." (Ayres, p. 129) For years, the Kings had never traveled on the same plane so that one of them would survive to take care of the children. Martin was born in 1929. He was killed on April 4, 1968, nine months before his 40th birthday. Cortex was glad it was so close to Easter for Martin was always prepared to sacrifice his life for the cause of freedom and peace.

         In the reading today, we heard Martin talk about normalcy. Our definition of what is normal can be a stumbling block for us all at the best of times. I recall a colleague in the corporate world had a sign outside her office that said, "be normal" and the "b" was turned around. I loved that sign! Normal is what the majority perceives itself to be.

         It shouldn't ever have been normal for a people to be enslaved. It shouldn't ever have been normal for a people to be disenfranchised in the South or ghettoized in the North. It shouldn't be normal to have such a high percentage of black youth unemployed and in prison today.

         My sister-in-law asked, "What would have happened if Martin Luther King, Jr. had never lived?" I believe the Civil Rights Movement would still have been strong but violent. MLK gave us in America the civilizing influence of non-violence. It was likely his turn towards rights for all poor people and against the Vietnam War that got him killed. In the coming months and years, I believe we will turn our attention more and more to what Martin believed about war and non-violence. He came up with ten commandments to keep the peace. One was "to walk and talk in the manner of love; for God is love". Another was "refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, and heart". The price for changing our nation significantly was death-the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr.-a high price for their families and the nation to pay.

         When the Movement was in great need of funds, Coretta went on tour with the Freedom Concert and earned $50,000, which was a great deal in the 60's. The signature hymn for the entire Movement was We Shall Overcome. And her concert gave the opportunity for the audience to sing this twice, in the middle and at the end. Let us sing it now.

         We are grateful that Martin Luther King, Jr. established in our society non-violence as a way of protesting injustice. May we find a way to embody his teaching s in our national policy and some day overcome violence everywhere.

References

Ayres, Alex, editor. The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr., New York, NY: Penguin Books USA, Inc., 1993.

King, Corretta Scott. My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., New York, NY: Penguin Books, USA, Inc., 1969 & 1993 (revised edition).