MLK: Smiling From His Grave

On March 25, 1965, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama after the successful completion of the Selma to Montgomery March and asked, “How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne?" Dr. King then asked again in that magnificent voice, “How long?” Answering his own question he boomed, “Not long!” Over and over again that day, like a mantra, the prophetic words, “How long, not long,” were heard from Dr. King.

Well, it might have taken a while, but the great leader was right. Exactly Forty-two years, three hundred and six days after he posed the question of “How long?” the answer was delivered in the ballot boxes in South Carolina. America finally has taken its first tentative steps toward shedding its racist past, toward growing up.

No matter which candidate you support for the presidency, and no matter who eventually wins the race, the outcome of the South Carolina primary signified to the world that our country is at last coming of age. Did it take longer than Dr. King prophesized? Does it really matter, now that it’s finally happening? And it’s happening in my lifetime — that’s what matters most to me.

There were hints of this maturation — this throwing off of the shackles of bigotry that have for too long bound us as a nation — in Iowa, but it was hard to be sure since that state only held a caucus. In caucuses everyone knows who their neighbor voted for and cynics said that Obama only won there because Whites wanted to be seen in public as fair, but that, in the privacy of the voting booth, things would be different. Well, the cynics were wrong. In the sanctity and privacy of the voting booth prejudice no longer blinded the vision of men ... or women either for that matter. America is forever changed.

Could there be a backlash to the racial progress signaled by the South Carolina outcome? Could reactionaries retrench and call for a return to the old, bigoted ways? There certainly is historical precedence for such an occurrence. Once before, during the turbulent 60s, we thought racism was on its deathbed, only to have it come virulently back as the Republicans “Southern Strategy,” which deeply divided the country along racial lines. When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill in 1964 he supposedly turned to an aide and said, "We have lost the south for a generation,” and he was right. But now the generation he spoke of has passed, and there is a new, more racially tolerant generation poised to take its place.

At least for the nonce coded race cards (the ones that Hillary surrogate Bill thought he was so skilled at playing) cannot be used in a national election without consequence. Once an underhanded tactic is exposed and backfires it’s usually relegated to the dustbin of history ... and it probably can’t be resurrected. We all should sincerely hope those days are done — finished — repudiated by an electorate that is genuinely ready for change, and that is set to turn out in droves at the ballot box to prove it.

And change of this kind can be leader-driven; top-down in construct. If race is no longer allowed to be a key element in national politics its days as a divisive force in our national life perhaps are also numbered. Let us pray.

A Clinton-Obama ticket is my personal dream team. Their positions on issues of import to me are mirror-images of each other, both are highly qualified, and Obama is certainly young enough to wait four or eight years to ascend to the presidency.

But what the Clintons — especially Bill — has to be careful about at this point is to not overreact to the South Carolina loss and try to regain momentum by taking the campaigning back to the racial gutter. That move will surly backfire. The problem, as I see it, is the fact Bill Clinton is so personally vested ... he’s fighting for his wife, and when men do that they can tend to go overboard; at least I know how I am. But the public is demanding that the campaigning remain on a high level from here on out, and anyone who thinks they are clever enough to violate this new unwritten rule does so at their own — or their wife’s — peril.

Of course not everyone will buy into the new racial paradigm we’ve just launched. There will remain pockets of entrenched racists on both sides of the racial divide. Or is it a three, four or multi-sided divide? Sometimes it’s hard to tell.

But racism got soundly routed in the South Carolina primary... it got its butt kicked around the block and back by virtually every demographic. Looking back, we just might one day say that the death knell for bigotry in America was rung out loud and clear (and for the world to hear) by the voters of the Palmetto State on Jan. 26, 2008. Hooray for them; hooray for us; hooray for the world.

And I have the prefect way to thank Dr. King for his vision, his challenging of Americans to outgrow racism over 40 years ago. On the same day of the South Carolina primary I received a mailing from “Build the Dream,” the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. Yes, it was a solicitation letter. You might have received one also, or perhaps will in the near future.

Believe me, I know money is tight, and about to get tighter, but this is an opportunity to become a “Founding Sponsor.” By responding now and donating $50, your name “will be added to the permanent Founder’s Roll of Honor that will forever be on display in Washington.” Maybe this is a bit gimmicky (and no doubt once they have your name and address you’ll probably be asked again) but the cause is well worthwhile. This is a monument the people, not the government, should build. So I’m asking you to please make a donation if you can; Dr. King is worthy of our honor and praise.

Checks should be made payable to the: Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial (I would put “Founding Sponsor” on the memo line of the check). The address is: P.O. Box 96071, Washington, DC 20077-7599. Or you can go to http://www.mlkmemorial.org for more information.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com

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