My locked up tears flowed again April 4, 1968

My locked up tears flowed again

I was standing in my kitchen ironing

When the news flash interrupted the
Regular programming on TV
The date was April 4, 1968

When I heard

Martin Luther King's name

I stopped ironing

Nervously whispering under my breath

Putting it and my brain on hold

Oh, God. No! Not again!

But it was again!
And another assassination!

My locked up tears started flowing
Again!

I cried and cried and cried

Only God and me know how I cried

I cried easier during those youthful days

My heart was not hard and cold

Those days were full of patriotic

Protests and honest marching

In the streets of America
I understood the politics of freedom
But the politics of death was what
I wanted to run from

That's not to say I don't understand
Death or painful crying
I am not personally acquainted with death
However, I did have a close encounter
But I don't count that incident because 
I survived the foolish dare

I don't cry so easily these days
My tears have gotten selfish

They have gotten harder and

Tougher to arouse out of their sleep

Violence has a way of

Draining the body and soul when it

Occurs too soon, too often

Nonetheless, I still get misty eyed

And sentimental when

I hear one of Martin's speeches 

Especially the one in which he talks about

Little black girls and boys walking

Hand-in-hand with little
White girls and boys

Little black children who should be

Judged for the content of their character

Not the color of their skin

Martin had a dream
Mahalia Jackson reminded him of it
One August day in Washington:
"Tell them about your dream, Martin!

Tell them about your dream!"
Mahalia encouraged
And Martin revealed his dream
Making America dream with him

Parting with a different speech in Memphis, Tennessee

Martin told us about sick

Whitemen wanting to

Kill him for no logical reason
Other than to shut down his dream 
He had no right to demand a fair and just America
These sick Whiteman wanted to shut down
His ideology, his politics, his righteousness
Their dry White hate wanted to still his voice
 

 I've Been To The Mountaintop
Is not repeated as often as
I Have A Dream
But the speech was just as memorable 
It had an important message  

Martin was in Memphis to march and protest
With striking sanitation workers
They wanted recognition for their worth
As working men
As human beings

Their posters screamed:
I AM A MAN!
I AM A MAN!

They walked and walked and walked 
Justice was just around the corner

Martin requested one of
His favorite Mahalia Jackson songs
I think it might have been
Precious Lord, Take My Hand
No one could sing it like Mahalia
It's one of those old Negro
Tear-jerking spirituals

The song wrapped itself around Martin

And then Martin Luther king told us that he
Just wanted to do God's will
He said he had

Gone to the Mountaintop
God allowed him to

 See the Promise Land

Did you really see it, Martin?
What did you see?

My heart swelling with the hallelujah of God

I felt empowered to

Understand what Martin was saying
Nevertheless, I wanted to know what the
Promise Land looked like 

Not everyone is permitted to
Climb to the mountaintop
To see what Martin saw

I vividly remember

The glow on Martin's face that night 
His face had a shiny halo
Must be the glow of God 
I thought to myself

Near the end of the speech
Martin said:

And then I got to Memphis
And some began to say the threats
Or talk of threats were out.
What would happen to me
From some of our sick White brothers.
Well, I don't know what will happen now.
Because I have been to the
Mountaintop. And I don't mind.
Like anybody I want
To live a long life. 
Longevity has its place.
 And I am happy tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!

Martin said his eyes had seen the
Glory of the coming of the Lord 
I envied him because my eyes
Were not open enough to see God
And the coming of His glory

When Martin said: I may not get there with you

I wondered why would God
Show him the Promise Land
And not let him cross over 
Perhaps God explained the journey 
To him as he did with Moses  

The Book of Deuteronomy says:

Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab
To Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah,
Which is across from Jericho.
And the Lord showed showed him all 
Land of Gilead as far as Dan,
All Naphtali and the land of
Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land
of Judah as far as the Western Sea,
The South, and the plain of the Valley
of Jericho, the city of palm trees
As far as Zoar. Then the Lord said to him,
This is the land of which I swore
To give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
Saying, I will give it to your descendants.
I have caused you to see it with your own eyes,
But you shall not cross over there.

Martin was graced to see what we could not

 He did not live in fear of dangerous Whitemen

Hyper hound dogs and water

Spraying hoses held with hateful hands

The prospect of death
Did not scare him, but still
He knew that longevity has it place
He preferred it to death
But God's will had to be done

I learned from Martin that
A man or woman cannot achieve 
The complete art of living

While stuck in the concrete fear
Unlike Martin, I was straddling the fence
My false bravery was too fearful of dying
I was not ready for the mountain walk

Drum majors are destined to stand

Out front for justice
 Refusing to be intimidated
 Strutting and marching toward

Gun fired bullets and

Fast thrown bricks and
Bottles and race tinged words

I wish I could have known Martin

I would have asked him to

Show me how to dream about

Real freedom and peace of mind

How to be nonviolent when

Starring violence in the face

I would have asked him to hold my hand so that his

Strength could surge through my body
 Like a bolt of lightning
Energizing my weaknesses and fears

That were choking the free life
I should have been living
My fearful spirit could not pull 
My feet out of the concrete

I would have asked Martin to show

Me how to look over the mountaintop

And not be scared if I was not

Destined to make it to the Promise Land 
To walk and talk to God

Standing in my kitchen
Trembling and crying, the iron in my hand
I wondered if my eyes would  ever
See the coming of the Lord

(C) by dorothy charles banks

An up close and personal interview with Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are many people in ancient and contemporary history that I would have loved to interview. One of the individuals  is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  But he was not the first on my list. I would have been overcome with joy to interview Jesus the Christ one-on-one! I would have asked him about his childhood, his dreams, his future goals. I would have asked if he felt that his destiny was out of his control. I would asked his mother, Mary, what kind of son he is. I would have asked her if she feels her son is a special kid who is destined for greatness? I would have asked  Mary if she sensed her son's life would be short, but forever lasting. I would have asked what her dreams were for her son.

No, I would not be crass and ask The Virgin Mary if she was a virgin when she gave birth to her son Jesus.

Because there are no magical time or travel machines, and no way to communicate with the deceased–except in the movies and on TV–I had to find a way to bring Dr. King to me for an interview. Jesus is too large for me to imagine what he would say to direct questions.
I racked my brain about 10 minutes, maybe 15, trying to make magic happen without abracadabra incantations that would not solve my dilemma. Then lightening struck. My brain jumped into action. My plan: Read Dr. King’s speeches and quotes to fit the questions I want him to answer. Using his own words, I prepared my chance of a lifetime “interview” with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. That adage is true. Forty-four years after he was assassinated, but Dr. King's words are just as relevant and forceful today as they were when he first spoke them during his lifetime. Even though he is gone his words are still repeated and recited by the young and old, Blacks and Whites, and foreigners.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15, 1929. He was fatally shot by James Earl Ray as he and a few friends stood on the balcony of the Lorain Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, April 4, 1968. He was in Tennessee to march with sanitation workers, whose incomes and working conditions were far below those of Whites working the same jobs. The workers and supporters carried signs that said: I AM A MAN TOO! For clarity, this "interview" will not focus on the protest in Memphis.

Dorothy: Dr. King if you could step back into history, mentally or physically, what time period  or time periods would you return to?

Dr. King: I would take my mental flight by Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there. I would move on by Greece, and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality.

But I wouldn't stop there. I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire. And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. But I wouldn't stop there. I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and esthetics's life of man. But I wouldn't stop there. I would even go by the way that the man for whom I'm named had his habitat. And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five theses on the door at the church in Wittenberg.

But I wouldn't stop there. I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating president by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. But I wouldn't stop there. I would even come up the early thirties, and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation. And come with an eloquent cry that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

But I wouldn't stop there. Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century, I will be happy." Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.

Dorothy: That sounds like an eye opening journey. When did you decide the direction your life might go?

Dr. King: I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow; but to God who is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever.

Dorothy: How would you, a widely known leader, measure the spirit of man, being a spiritual man yourself?

Dr. King: The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.

Dorothy: Can what affects one race of Americans, not affect another race, especially in the realm of justice?

Dr. King: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

Dorothy: Politicians talk a lot about science and its relationship to religion. What is your opinion? Are the two connected?

Dr. King: Science investigates, religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deal mainly with facts, religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complimentary. Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley or crippling irrationalism and paralyzing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral nihilism.

Dorothy: Dr. King, everyone is aware that you are nonviolent. But realistically, wouldn’t you achieve your goal for justice much faster by employing a hint of violence?

Dr. King: Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent, rather than win his understanding. It seems to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one's whole being into the being of another.

Dorothy: How do you feel about discrimination?

Dr. King: Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.

Dorothy: Once again America is at war after the 9/11 terrorists strike. We went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, where we stall are fighting. But these wars different from Vietnam. Will there ever be peace in the world?

Dr. King: Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby, transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation. I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed.

Dorothy: Did America damage its image with its involvement in the Vietnam war?

Dr. King: It is curious that Americans who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process, they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of evolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism.

Dorothy: How do you feel about defense spending as opposed to spending on programs to help America’s poor?

Dr. King: A nation that continues year after year to spend more money in military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.
 
Dorothy: Today many people appear to be brain dead, and willing to accept whatever is told to them without question. Why do you think that is?

Dr. King: Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than insincere ignorance and conscious stupidity.

Dorothy: Explain what the "drum major instinct" means.

Dr. King: Now the presence of the drum major instinct is why so many people are "joiners." You know, there are some people who just join everything. And it's really a quest for attention and recognition and importance. And they get names that give them that impression. So you get your groups, and they become the "Grand Patron" and the little fellow who is henpecked at home needs a chance to be the "Most Worthy of the Most Worthy" of something. It is the drum major impulse and longing that runs the gamut of human life. And so we see it everywhere, this quest for recognition. And we join things, over join really, that we think that we will find that recognition in.

Dorothy: How can America reroute the revolution of values in the midst of war?

Dr. King: America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status-quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.

Dorothy: In Birmingham you decided to take nonviolent "direct action". What was the purpose?

Dr. King: Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue so that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent--resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.

Dorothy: Were any of your direct-action campaigns ever well timed? Many whites feel they were not.

Dr. King: Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was well timed in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ‘wait.’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘wait’ has almost always meant ‘never.’

Dorothy: In your own words, describe what is it like to be black and living in America.

Dr. King: Being a Negro in America means trying to smile when you want to cry. It means trying to hold on to physical life amid psychological death. It means the pain of watching your children grow up with clouds of inferiority in their mental skies. It means having your legs cut off, and then being condemned for being a cripple. It means seeing your mother and father spiritually murdered by the slings and arrows of daily exploitation, and then being hated for being an orphan.

Dorothy: When you hear people say you are breaking the law in some instances when you hold demonstrations or marches, what is your response?

Dr. King: The answers lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.

Dorothy: During the early days of the bus boycotts, you received a threatening call around midnight, in which the caller said, ‘Nigger, we are tired of you and your mess now. If you don’ get out of town in three days, we’re going to blow up your house.’ Was that frightening for you and your family?

Dr. King: I could hear an inner voice saying to me, ‘Martin Luther, stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo I will be with you, even until the end of the world.’

Dorothy: Does the prospect of death frighten you?

Dr. King: Death comes to every individual. There is an amazing democracy about death. It is not aristocracy for some of the people, but a democracy for all of the people. Death is the irreductible common denominator of all men.

Dorothy: How do you want to be remembered? What do you people to say at your funeral?

Dr. King: If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. 'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.
 

The Lorrain Hotel turned into a Civil Rights Museum

Dorothy: If I was slated to speak at your funeral, what would you like me to say?
 
Dr. King: I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. 

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.
 
Dorothy: Thank you, Dr. King. I enjoyed the interview.

Dr. King: You're quite welcome.