That we should refuse to even speak their names—rioting and looting—in favor of "rebellion" or “revolution.”. And so I've found it necessary to take a stand against the war in Viet Nam and I appreciate Bishop Emrich's question and I must answer it by saying that for me the tuitus? We can do this. Now I think my views on non-violence are pretty generally known. While he came out and criticized the riots, which were breaking out all over the country in the late 1960s, he very clearly talked about the need to understand and not just condemn — and called for an end to the conditions of injustice and impoverishment that created the situation. Secondly, we've got to get rid of two or three myths that still pervade our nation. .(interruption). These speeches are demands for better living conditions for blacks, not just technical legal equality before the law. And if you'll just be nice and patient and continue to pray, in a hundred or two hundred years the problem will work itself out. Then at that moment that person is saying that that person who is not good to do all of this is not fit to exist or to live. Though some good may follow a violent riot, such as awareness of the desperate issues which inspired it, the good comes in spite of it, and never because of it. is vital to distilling the message that black lives are being systematically devalued, and that black lives matter. I need not pause to say how very delighted I am to be here tonight and to have the great privilege of discussing with you some of the vital issues confronting our nation and confronting the world. Let's make that clear. In the fight for justice, moderation is a virtue, Camden’s Success Was Achieved by De-Unionizing, Not Defunding. Now there is another myth and that is the notion that legislation can't solve the problem that you've got to change the heart and naturally I believe in changing the heart. I happen to be a Baptist preacher and that puts me in the heart changing business and Sunday after Sunday I'm preaching about conversion and the need for the new birth and re-generation. — will assume all costs, they say. “And what is it that America has failed to hear? Police unions, qualified immunity, unjust laws criminalizing peaceful activity and voluntary enterprise, plus denial of opportunity through barriers to entry in legal market competition… All these issues are suddenly on the lips of people having these conversations in a meaningful way. “We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny,” King said in the Stanford speech. . Senator Eastland, incidentally, who says this all the time gets a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars a year, not to farm on various areas of his plantation down in Mississippi. But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. You can cite many others who were much more militant in their defense of resistance of all kinds. We must come to see. No matter that these businesses are often minority-owned. But here’s a starting point: organize, formally, around specific causes. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. In the wake of the riots and looting that broke out with protests over the killing of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis, Minnesota, police last month, supporters of the cause have cited Dr. Martin Luther King’s … "No lie can live forever." But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. The section about the “language of the unheard” immediately follows this paragraph: Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. This isn't anywhere in our plans. Many of them are moral reasons but one basic reason is that we love our boys who are fighting there and we just want them to come back home. U.S. But I must say that the war in Viet Nam is playing havoc with our Domestic destinies. No charge. This America is the habitat of millions of people who have food and material necessities for their bodies, culture and education for their minds, freedom and human dignity for their spirits. "Truth crushed to earth will rise again." They were also about Eric Garner and Tamir Rice and Philando Castile and Walter Scott and Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown and Freddie Gray and Sandra Bland and Botham Jean and Jordan Davis and so many others. And just go down the line. .everybody talks about law and order. And continue to affirm that there is another way. Mix that with depression-level unemployment, a pandemic that has killed more than 105,000 in four months, and militarized police forces eager to bust heads, and you had a powder keg waiting to blow. One, I want to say that if we're to move ahead and solve this problem we must re-order our national priorities. An orgy of destruction that begins in a hunger for justice for black people quickly destroys black lives and livelihoods. If the Supreme Court won’t, it can be done with legislation, like Congressman Justin Amash’s bluntly named. Happily, most protesters are not rioters. In this other America, thousands of young people are deprived of an opportunity to get an adequate education. a reporter asked me sometime ago when I first took a strong stand against the war didn't I feel that I would have to reverse my position because so many people disagreed, and people who once had respect for me wouldn't have respect, and he went on to say that I hear that it's hurt the budget of your organization and don't you think that you have to get in line more with the administration's policy ... and of course those were very lonely days when I first started speaking out and not many people were speaking out but now I have a lot of company and it's not as lonesome now. It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. We're reaping the harvest of this failure today. I wish I had time to go into the dimensions of this. The logic Dr. King laid out when, perhaps inspired by the Gospel of Matthew, he said: “The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing it, it multiplies it. But you should hear what they’re saying. It’s far more poignant and cutting in context. Rioting causes white suffering and black suffering. Raiding the shoe store, burning down restaurants, smashing and burning everything around you aren’t rebellion. The section about the “language of the unheard” immediately follows this paragraph: Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. Among the more contemptible rhetorical tricks used this past weekend was the hijacking of Martin Luther King Jr. to enlist him in the cause of rioting. There is an answer to that myth. In doing so, he gave us that famous line: “But at the same time, it is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots. And what is it that America has failed to hear? If you want to downplay this, know that I am not on your side. If we are to invoke MLK’s name, then we’d do well to remember one important point as we consider tactics and organization…. I've been in the struggle a long time now, (applause) and I've conditioned myself to some things that are much more painful than discourteous people not allowing you to speak, so if they feel that they can discourage me, they'll be up here all night. Speech by It was 90 seconds of a 90-minute brawl. Far from being radical, in 2020 King’s sentiments seem obvious: This past weekend’s riots didn’t develop out of thin air. I feel like opposing it for many reasons. Today is the first day of October. It is the notion that only time can solve the problem of racial injustice. I must make it clear. “We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny,” King said in the Stanford speech. And all of the victims of anti-Black racism by state and vigilante violence. We’ve all seen the shattered glass, broken doors, cars and buildings ablaze, graffiti everywhere—perhaps even in your own community. That fight for recognition, for legal and social equality for LGBT people, follows the same logic. This has caused a great deal of bitterness. It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. But they do not take under consideration the thousands of people who have given up, who have lost motivation, the thousands of people who have had so many doors closed in their faces that they feel defeated and they no longer go out and look for jobs, the thousands who've come to feel that life is a long and desolate corridor with no exit signs. As Minneapolis burns in response to the police murder of George Floyd, and incidents of arson and looting are reported, many are citing Dr. Martin Luther King. What always bothers me is that the long hot summer has always been preceded by a long cold winter.  And the great problem is that the nation has not used its winters creatively enough to develop the program, to develop the kind of massive acts of concern that will bring about a solution to the problem. That, regardless of race, they represent hard work, savings, blood, sweat, and tears—not to mention employment for the community. But there is no basic difference. Now every year about this time, our newspapers and our televisions and people generally start talking about the long hot summer ahead. Rioters tell themselves they aren’t hurting the people they are obviously hurting. And I've heard it from many sincere people. The President was concerned about voting, but he said Martin, I can't get this through in this session of Congress.  We can't get a voting rights bill, he said because there are two or three other things that I feel that we've got to get through and they're going to benefit negroes as much as anything.  One was the education bill and something else. Racism is based on an ontological affirmation. For years and for decades, we have failed. and let us hold them accountable. This was the historic connection King made between the “three evils” of poverty, racism, and militarism — linking racism with capitalism, and with imperialism abroad. I'm convinced that it is clearly an unjust war and it's doing so many things--not only on the domestic scene, it is carrying the whole world closer to nuclear annihilation. Despite the sickening history of racist oppression in the United States, King understood that there could be no path forward that involved cleaving the interests of blacks and whites. Vanity asks the question is it popular? If you think 2020 has been rough, you’ve just got to make it through three more months. At last, we have a chance to forge this rage into real change—if we choose to. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.”. VERDICT: True. But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. . You don’t have to like what the rioters did. King didn’t defend rioters but merely said that there was understandable anger underlying their actions. There's legislation in Congress right now dealing with the whole question of housing and equal administration of justice and these things are very important for I submit to you tonight that there is no more dangerous development in our nation than the constant building up of predominantly negro central cities ringed by white suburbs. Now before I was so rudely interrupted… (applause), and I might say that it was my understanding that we're going to have a question and answer period, and if anybody disagrees with me, you will have the privilege, the opportunity to raise a question if you think I'm a traitor, then you'll have an opportunity to ask me about my traitorness and we will give you that opportunity. Read through the articles on Age of Awareness to get the perspectives of parents and educators.