The Atlanta Voice from Atlanta, Georgia • 7

APRILS, 1978 TKf AriANT4V0ICf Foge 7-4 Br." Jong' loauos togasy To Tuo Rdcos IlisCocrcgs Brings Changes In Spirit U.S. Blacks Whiles Release From The Burdsns 01 Past Racism i Now, 10 years after the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, it is movement had meant to "When he started in Montgomery Mr. Jackson said, "I was 14.

His willingmess to stand up against the odds impressed me very much. 'Self-Fulfilling -t VS I'hiit i i 9 IVas 19 Worth Tho possible to loqk back and see clearly that his legacy to blacks and to the nation was more than the residue of sentiment for a martyred leader of flame scarred street in more than the residue of sentiment for a martyred leader -of the flame scarred streets, in more than a hundred American cities where enraged people rioted after he was slain. Conversations with blacks of hnth hinh anri Inw OQtata with those who knew him and those who did not, indicate quite clearly that his principal legacy was the changes that his life, his force, his programs and his courage wrought in their minds and in their There were other legacies, of course, but a broad spectrum of opinion holds that this, of all his gifts to black Americans, was the most precious. Before the bus boycott that Dr. King led In Montgomery.

beginning in 1955, the South was still legally segregated except for the schools, which were in the winlont tiirmnil rtf oarlv deseareaation. In manv olaces in that reaion. 4 blacks attempted to register to vote only if they were willing to risk their lives tonne trancnise, in the North, humiliations in nubile nlar.es. thouoh often illegal, were not uncommon experiences for blacks. Harmful Stereotypes Stereotypes picturing blacks as indolent, violent, Imninii anri ftlnnlrf (n- formed the MCial attitudes of much oAAhe nation, both North and South.

Blacks uftro nnl ImmiinA Irt Iho nArwBRivA hnlri nf hift characterization in the while American lives and those of their neighbors reinforced that message. Many, and probably most, black Americans internalized the white view of their race to one degree or another. People crippled by such a self evaluation were poorly situated to battle for their rights against the most powerful society of the face of the earth. The movement Dr. King began to head in Montgomery started to change all that.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, now executive director of (, People United to Save Humanity, who was there at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis when Dr. King was shot, explained in a recent interview what the Prophecies "At the time we were unable to defend ourselves intelleciually, because whites had the professors and the professional people who could use words to subjugate us and make us feel inferior. They also had the power to limit our opportunities and thus make their views become self fulfilling prophecies." "Martin," Mr. Jackson concluded, "had the intellectual force and the oratorical ability to counter that and to help us begin to change our minds about oursleves." Bayard Rustin, the president of the A.

Philip Randolph Institute and a longtime associate of Dr. King, agreed with that assessment. "Just as Gandhi taught the Indians," he said, "Martin taught us to stand up with courage, not to be afraid; -to stand up with dignity even in the face of Jail and the grosset Indignities." Though blacks were quick to understand the message, many whites were not. The standard Justice Department response to the crucial demonstrations Dr. King led in Birmingham In 1963 was that it was wrong to keep children out of school and expose them to the dangers of the marches When blacks in the Administration responded that those black youngsters were (earning more about self determination on the marches than they would learn in a semester in Birmingham's segregated school system, their white colleagues simply did not get the point.

But a man in a Harlem bar at the time of the demonstrations got it. "King is brave," the man said, "and he's showing that blacks don't get anything without courage in the lace even of the worst harassment and intimidations." There were' other legacies, of course, for whites as well as for blacks. Mr. Jackson pointed out that if the racial stereotypes were not entirely demolished by the' movement in the 60's, they were at least severely dented "There was the myth," he said, "that we don't The Rev. Jesse Jackson work as hard as we do and that we are less intelligent than we are.

Martin emobdied the realities In black life that give the lie to those myths. That's one of the reasons he was so charismatic." Economic Implications The broad legacy for Americans of both races surely includes the fact that the country no longer humiliates itself by humiliating a large segment of its population at places of public accommodations, by denying them the right to vote or by pretending that the struggle for equal justiceis narrowly a civil rights issue, excluding economic considerations entirely. "When Martin went to Memphis to help the garbage workers," Mr. Rustin said, "he called attention to the lact that segregation and discrimination had profound economic implications. He said to me then, 'We've gotten them the right to go in and buy a hamburger, now we've got to get them the right to buy One other aspect of the King legacy is the teft "black leadership bvthe nation.

Stanley D. Levison, one of Dr. King's advisers, said that his death left an enormous vacuum, despite the emergence of a number of very able new leaders, in that no one with his moral force no one whom people would follow to beatings or death, if necessary has appeared in his place. But Dr. King left his mark on a generation of blacks whose consciences were forged at the time of his movement.

Jesse Jackson put it this way: "He taught us that the freedom struggle Is a marathon, not a sprint. A lot of people marched in Birmingham, then left, or marched, in Selma, then left. But some of us learned that you've got to be there for a lifetime and be consistent, mountain high or mountain low. That gives you moral authority." without the white society's having to give up very much, if anything. Generally, whites held a majority and controlled the economy; they could treat blacks as citizens, led their own lives with other whites and.

think about things other than race, as is done in the rest of the nation. But in view of the intensity of the resistance that existed, a deeper explanation Is required. The challenge that Martin Luther King put to the white South and the quiet influence of white Southern women have to be considered. That the challenge was a serious one was indicated by the hatred Dr. King rendered, hatred that could be seen on the faces of men and women on the streets and behind the windows as Dr.

King led his marchers. King's Challenge Southern whites could dismiss other black leaders as too radical or irrelevant. Dr. King presented a challenge in terms of their own values. He was a middle class black preacher, with the same soft manners of black ministers and educators who fit politely into the segregated pattern of every community.

His nonviolent approach of opposing injustice, not those who perpetrated it, under the creed of "liberty and justice for all" that every white had repeated daily since the first grade, could not be accommodated -without anger. But after the anger there had to be a reckoning, as new laws brought change year after year, and in this the role of women was important. It was women, the wives of sheriffs and lawyers and chruch leaders, who had brought an end to the worst of the lynchings earlier in the century. They simply demanded of their husbands that the practice cease and persisted until it did. At the height of the civil rights movement, in almost every community, one or more native women would be working quietly or openly for change.

It was largely women who organized the "save the schools" movement that permitted integration without destruction across the South. Men, too, were usually involved, but as Florence Mars pointed out in a book published last year, "Wtiness in Philadelphia," about the Mississippi town where three civil rights workers were stair) In 196. the only residents who did not insist that the case was all a giant hoax on the community were blacks, several white women and a couple of white male ministers. Theirs were the only rational voices asserting, as was later proved in court, that the workers were killed by local people with the help of the white authorities. Southern whites are not building monuments to Martin Luther King or doing public penance for their anger, but a lot of the myths have been destroyed and there is a more rational discussion of the differences between blacks and whites.

For the most part, Southern whites seem to be. enjoying their freedom from fear and racism. MONTGOMERY, Ala When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

and his nonviolent armies were traveling the Deep South, inflicting misery on white officials with demonstrations and sit ins, he would frequently say that the purpose was not only to free blacks from bondage but also to free whites from the burden of racism. Blacks have gained a lot of freedom since then. Yet some students of the South Believe that whites have gained more, in a number of ways. There has been a reformation of Southern politics, a direct result of the infusion of black voters under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Political dialogue has moved almost completely away from race.

For that reason, there's no longer the stigma that had barred many of Southern whites from full participation in national politics. Those who knew the South in the 1960's still find it difficult to believe that a white politician from the vicinity of Americus, a center of violent resistance to desegregation, is President of the United States. Jimmy Carter, among others, has acknowledged his indebtedness to the civil rights movement for his place in the nation. An Ebbing of Fear Many more Southern whites gained freedom In a more personal way. In the 60's one could go Into the courthouses, the state capitols, the restaurants and public meetings and hear the bitter outpourings of whites of all ages who were obsessed by fears of black control or of "foreign ideologies that were perceived as a threat to Southern stability and honor.

Now that defen-siveness and preoccupation with race seems to have gone out of the public speech. It is still the Deep South, and there are still people who see no good end to the progress that blacks have made. But they are isolated and can find no sounding board to spread thir fear. In Jackson, the other day, for example, on television station WJTV, owned by whites who were once leaders of massive resistance, a black newscaster interviewed a white candidate for Governor who apologized for having belonged to a citizens' council that stood for white supremacy. On he same program, blacks from across the state were shown marching on the state welfare office to protect the system of distributing food stamps.

The white welfare director felt obligated to stand in front of the camera and explain the situation. Change Despite Resistance Those areas of the South that put up the most resistance now have almost everything that the white leaders said could not be accepted school integration, public accommodations open to all, wide scale black voting, elected and appointed officials who are black, blacks in jobs once closed to them. How this can about is another story. At some point between the height of the movement and many Southern whites discovered that afl those things could be done Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

By Alice Lovelace Early in our relationship with America black activist understood that different geographic locals required different approaches. Spurred on by the unanimous 1954 Supreme Court decision that separate Is not equal a strong show of resistance again surfaced among Southern blacks to reverse the segregation laws. During this era they contrived a new strategy and organization for a cohesive movement was born. Martin Luther King, Jr. organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee were the eras forerunners ol nonviolent demonstrations in pursuit of civil rights.

Throughout the South they marched and sang "We Shall Overcome" and in the face of historical white against black violence another segment of the movement was born. Martin Luther King and the emotionalism of his speeches served a definite purpose in a time when emotionalism was all America could deal with. In time the people moved from marches and sit-ins into the sixties Freedom Rides and voter registration drives. Many were beat and dragged off to jail, futures were mortgaged and families mourned lives lost many of which went unrecorded but the movement moved on, up to New York and the Harlem riots then out to Los Angeles and the Black Panther Party. America was served notice that no longer would black citizens wait for full citizenship we were committed to fighting for our rights.

From the beginning we have been spied upon by government agencies', and internal enemies while being Wrassed by local police and courts. When Stockley Carmichael spoke at the Meridith March in Mississippi 1966 his "Black Power" chant marked a new era of black unity which the white controlled press condemned as "racism in reverse" We soon found out that what was good for the while goose was not to be regarded as sauce for the black gander. The media proved adapt In misinterpreting our wordt and motives and seperated us through labeling. In the midst ol our unity grew our discord. The controversy turrounding Martina death has yet to be laid to rest.

Law enforcement officials have a sorry record when it comes to black lives sacrificed during this ara. While paying respect to Martin on the anniversary ol his assassination I would also Ilka to Includes tribute to Malcolm who overundarttood our condition In America and Price? saw the need to look at ourselves as an international people. His legacy of Pan-Africanism is still very relevant today. Fred Hampton and Mark Clark of the Chicago Black Panther Party hoped to bring to the oppressed people of Illinois the self help concept of neighborhood breakfast programs, community controlled child care facilties and neighborhood health care. For this they were hounded in the press and on the streets until the bold decision by the Chicago police department to murder them In their sleep while America looked on.

In Houston, Texas; a strong hold of white supremacy; Carl Hampton of the Peoples Party 2 was killed by a police sniper during a mass rally. This act stiffled the movement in Texas almost before it began. These four men represent the known victims of the struggle but my respect extends to the countless others who were jailed, debased and too often killed by the laws of their land. Wat It worth the Price? Much has been done but we have so much yet to do. Fourteen years ago Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and segregation become unlawful but unfortunately racism cannot be prohibited by laws.

Public schools eat our young and In some areas 20 to 30 of our race is unemployed. Housing, a very pertinent factor in family unity and survival, is a major problem for low and middle income blacks. We have more black politicians than ever before and less representation, affirmative action is under attack and again we hear cries of "reverse racism." Wat Worth The Price? Yes, but only If it helped us understand some day we each must face our responsibility to ourselves, our children and our people. We do not need more government programs with their bureaucracy and limitations we need mora black people willing to help black people. If you do no more than organize a play group for unsupervised children on your black you have done aomethlng, you have contributed, you have fulfilled your obligation.

What more of a legacy could Martin wish. Editor's Nott: Alice Lovelace It a freelance writer. She hat written tot Poud magazine ol St. Louie and It co-author ol a black TV drama to be released thlt summer In Atlanta. Alice alto term aa public relatione person for the United Front On Housing.

Historically within our culture the artist have been keepers of the history record their peoples frustrations, accomplishments and dreams. Black writers seek to explore in poetry and words the struggles for their people and an event such as the anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination brings us out. Martin was referred to by some people as another a "crusadet without violence" but in his own words he simply sought to "instill in my people a sense of dignity and self respect." Arrested and beaten dozens of times while demonstrating with his people Martin always returned to the front line. In 1965 his march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama resulted in passage of the Voting Rights Act. One can not speak of Martin Luther King Jr.

and his accomplishments without linking them to the liberation struggle of his race. But it cannot be left at that. These days some writers, perhaps unknowingly, perpetuate the myth the movement started with Rosa Parks, the Montgomery Improvement Association and Martin Luther King when actually our struggle against America began upon initial contact and has continued on varying degrees every since. From the first act of resistance by a prospective slave on Africas snores blacks have struggled and still struggle for recognition under the laws of this cbuntry to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness whictT in 1978 translates as career jobs, decent housing, meaningful education and preventative health care. There was notone civil rights movement but many each serving an ongoing purpose and contributing to the gains of our race nationwide.

In 1829 in the free state of Massachusetts a freeman David Walker published and distributed with his own money APPEAL, a plea to the colored citizens of the world, demonstrating 'that even then we understood that our struggle belonged to a much wider struggle of blacks around the world. When the Governor of Massachusetts refused to suppress APPEAL a ten thousand dollar reward was levelled on Walkers life throughout the South. He was urged to flee to Canada but refused stating, "Somebody must die in this cause. I may be doomed to the stake or fire. It it not in me to falter if I can promote the work of emancipation." One year Tater David Walker was found dead of "suspected foul play." King Knew Oi Murder Phns Martin Luther King Sr.

revealed that days before the assassination of his ton, he and hit wife were told by Martin Luther King, Jr. to expect tht "sudden" murder. In an exclusive article In McCall't magazine, King, Sr. wrote that hit ton had told him, "I want know thlt. There It very good chance that.

might be murdered. Any day thlt could happen, any night. And I want to tell you about It because it will be sudden. reports tre that they ara out to get me." lack and Whites Hiring and playing together In harmony was the dream of Dr. King.

But ten year 'a after hit death eoenee Ilk the one In this picture ara rarity..