21 May 1961
Montgomery, Ala
The words that I will utter tonight were written
this morning as I flew at an altitude of 38,000 feet on a jet
plane from New York to Atlanta, Georgia. As that giganic instrument
stretched its wings through the air like an eagle and moved smoothly
toward its destination, many thoughts ran through my mind. On
the one hand I thought of how the technological developments of
the United States ha d brought the nation and the world to an
awe-inspiring threshold of the future. I thought of how our scientific
genius had helped us to drawf distance and place time in chains.
I thought of how we had carved highways through the stratosphere,
and how our jet planes had compressed in to minute distances that
once took days. On the other hand I thought of that brutal mob
in Alabama and the reign of terror that had engulfed Anniston,
Birmingham and Montgomery. I thought of the tragic expressions
of man’s inhumanity to man that still exist in certain sections
of our country. I could not help being concerned about this glaring
contrast, this tragic gulf. Through our scientific and technological
developments we have lifted our heads to the skys and yet our
feet are still firmly planted in the muck of barbarism and racial
hatred. Indeed this is America’s chief moral dilemma. And
unless the Nation grapples with this dilemma forthrightly and
firmly, she will be relegated to a second rate power in the world.
The price that America must pay for the continued oppression of
the Negro is the price of its own destruction. America’s
greatest defense against communism is to take the offense for
justice, freedom, and human dignity.
The Freedom Ride grew out of a recognition of the
American delimma and a desire to bring the nation to a realization
of its noble dream. We are all deeply indebted to CORE for this
creative idea. These courageous freedom riders have faced ugly
and howling mobs in order to arouse the dozing conscience of the
nation. Some of them are now hospitalized as a result of physical
injury. They have accepted blows without retaliation. One day
all of America will be proud of their achievements.
Over the past few days Alabama has been the scene
of a literal reign of terror. It has sunk to a level of barbarity
comparable to the tragic days of Hitler’s Germany.
Now who is responsible for this dark night of terror
in Alabama? Certainly the mob itself must be condemned. When people
sink to such a low level of hatred and evil that they will beat
unmercifully non-violent men and women, they should be apprehended
and prosecuted on the basis of the crime they have committed.
But the ultimate responsibility for the hideous action in Alabama
last week must be placed at the doorsteps of the Governor of this
State. His consistent preaching of defiance of the law, his vitriolic
public prouncements, and his irresponsible actions created the
atmosphere in which violence could thrive. When the governor of
a atate will urge people to defy the Law of the Land, and teach
them to disrespect the Supreme Court, he is comsciously and unconsciously
aiding and abetting the forces of violence.
Among the many sobering lessons that we can learn
from the events of the past week is that the deep South will not
impose limits upon itself. The limits must be imposed from without.
Unless the Federal Go ernment acts forthrightly in the South to
assure every citizen his constitutional rights, we will be plunged
into a dark abyss of chaos. The federal government must not stand
idly by while blood thirsty mobs beat non-violent students with
impunity.
The familiar cry of state rights will certainly
come up at this time. The South will argue that Federal intervention
is an invasion of the Rights of States. We must answer this argument
by making it clear that we too believe in State Rights. We are
committed to Jeffersonian democracy and would not want to see
a complete centralization of government. But although States must
have Rights, no State must have the right to do wrong. We must
not allow state wrongs to exist under the banner of State Rights.
To deny individuals the right to vote through threats, intimidations
and other insidious methods is not a State Right, But a State
Wrong. To trample over a people with the iron feet of economic
exploitation is not a State Right, but a State Wrong. To keep
a group of people confined to nasty slums and dirty hovels is
not a State Right, but a State Wrong. To confine certain citizens
to segregated schools and deprive them of an equal education is
a State Wrong moving under the guise of a State Right. To allow
hooded perpetrators of violence and vicious mobs to beat, kick
and even kill people who only want to be free is a State Wrong
without one scintilla of right. We are for State Rights
when they are Right.
The other familiar cry that we will hear is that
freedom riders, the federal government and no other agency can
force integration upon the South. Morals, they argue, cannot be
legislated.
To this we must answer it may be true that morals
cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. It may be
true that laws and federal action cannot change bad internal attitudes,
but they can control the external effects of those internal attitudes.
The law may not be able to make a man love me, but it can keep
him from lynching me. The fact is that the habits, if not the
hearts of men have been, and are being changed everyday by federal
action.
The recent developments in Alabama should challenge
us more than ever before to delve deeper into the struggle for
freedom in this State. There must now be a full scale non-violent
assault on the system of segregation in Alabama. In a few days
I will call a meeting of the executive board of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference to map plans for a massive campaign to end
segregation in Alabama. This will include an intensified voter
registration drive, a determined effort to integrate the public
schools, lunch counters, public parks, theaters etc. In short,
we will seek to mobilize thousands of people, committed to the
method of non-violence, who will physically identify themselves
with the struggle to end segregation in Alabama. We will present
our physical bodies as instruments to defeat the unjust system.
We cannot in all good conscience sit complacently
by while Alabama has no respect for law and order and while it
continues to impose upon the Negro the most inhuman form of oppression.
We must stand up now not for ourselves alone, but in order to
carry our nation back to those great wells of democracy which
were dug deep by the founding fathers in the formulation of the
Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. If Alabama continues
to follow its present course of defiance, lawlessness, and Hitlerism,
the image of the United States will be irreparable scarred and
the results may be fatal in terms of our national survival.
As I close may I strongly urge you to continue
to follow the path of non-violence. The freedom riders have given
us a magnificence example of strong courageous action devoid violence.
This I am convinced is our most creative way to break loose for
the paralyzing shackles of segregation. As we intensify our efforts
in Alabama, Mississippi, and the deep South generally, we will
face difficult days. Angry passions of the opposition will be
aroused. Honesty impells me to admit that we are in for a season
of suffering. I pray that recognizing the necessity of suffering
we will make of it a virtue. To suffer in a righteous cause is
to grow to our humanity’s full stature. If only to save ourselves,
we need the vision to see the ordeals of this generation as the
opportunity to transform ourselves and American society.
So in the days ahead let us not sink into the quicksands
of violence; rather let us stand on the high ground of love and
non-injury. Let us continue to be strong spiritual anvils that
will wear out many a physical hammer.
TD. MLKJP-GAMK:
Box 108.
