Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr

[LadyTevar]

January 14, 2005
Ken Hechler

King was an inspiration in the fight for democracy

Had he survived the assassin’s bullet in Memphis in 1968, Martin Luther King would be 76 years old this weekend. His life and influence provide many lessons for West Virginians and the world.

Dr. King would stand shoulder to shoulder with Sen. Robert C. Byrd in his condemnation of the war in Iraq. When King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, in 1964, he spoke emotionally against war as a permanent solution to disputes.

Perhaps Gov.-elect Joe Manchin could take a leaf from Dr. King’s book to define true leadership as not necessarily a consensus, but the enunciation of policies which extend the blessings of democracy to all West Virginians — regardless of their influence or wealth.

On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress in Montgomery, Ala., refused to give up her seat on the bus when a white patron boarded. At the age of only 25, Dr. King organized and led a yearlong Montgomery bus boycott, which came to a successful conclusion with the U.S. Supreme Court outlawing segregation on transportation.

Ten years later, while serving on the House Space Committee as a subcommittee chairman, I was due to lead a Congressional delegation to Cape Canaveral to view a manned space shot in preparation for our later manned flight to the moon. I read about the brutal treatment of black men and women trying to exercise their right to register and vote, which had been guaranteed by a constitutional amendment a century ago. Early in the month of March, 1965, several hundred men and women attempting to organize a trek from Selma, Ala., 50 miles to the state capitol in Montgomery had been beaten, clubbed and tear-gassed, injuring 140, half of whom had to be hospitalized.

I asked myself: “Which is more important — to go on a junket to Cape Canaveral, or to support those fighting for the right to vote?” An additional attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery was announced for the next day, so I canceled my trip to Cape Canaveral to join Dr. King to Selma.

At the age of 35, Dr. King was the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Shortly after his gala reception in Oslo, Dr. King was arrested and jailed in Selma for disturbing the peace in an effort to assist blacks to register and vote. From his jail cell in Selma, he wrote: “There are more blacks with me here in jail than there are on the voting rolls in the entire county.”

At my personal expense, I bought a ticket to Birmingham and rented a car to drive to Selma. I made my way to the Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Selma, where we were greeted by Dr. King with words of inspiration and encouragement. He asked us to lock arms and sing “We Shall Overcome,” in which we joined with emotional fervor. Dr. King also added that this was a date in history which we would remember all our lives.

Over the radio came the welcome news that President Lyndon Johnson had federalized the Alabama National Guard, which prevented a recurrence of the brutal attacks that had been made on those attempting the first march. Nevertheless, all along the march route, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge spanning the Alabama River, local residents jeered and spat at us.

One amusing incident occurred a few miles outside of Selma along the four-lane Jefferson Davis Highway as we marched toward Montgomery. We were passing a typical southern plantation with a broad sweep of lawn and a white-columned overseer’s mansion. The overseer had several dozen of his employees out by the highway carrying crude signs reading “White Trash, Go Home!” A tall black lady marching next to me walked over to the side of the road and cupping her hands while pointing to the sign-bearers yelled: “White trash is home!”

At the close of a day’s march, I had to return to Selma to drive to Birmingham for the flight back to Washington, where an important vote was scheduled in Congress. This is when I had the chance for an extended conversation with Dr. King. I did not go to him, but among 3,000 fellow marchers he sought me out. Apparently someone had told him that I was a congressman. Among all the detailed problems he had to confront, it was a very relaxed King who conversed with me about my interest in his leadership. Most of all, I was impressed with his great concern about my safety.

“The road to Selma will be very dangerous when you go back,” he said. (His prediction was correct, because later that week a Detroit housewife named Viola Liuzzo was murdered along that road.) “Al will get you a car with several of my black bodyguards,” he said. “Please get down on the floorboards so nobody sees you, a white man riding with four Negroes.”

Dr. King finished the triumphal march to Montgomery as the ranks of the marchers swelled. I was proud shortly after the Selma march to support the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which ended the literacy tests and intimidation of black men and women trying to register and vote.

In the past 40 years, and since Dr. King’s death, the South has elected many black officials in high places. There is much yet to be done to promote racial harmony, to further the education of minorities and to end racial profiling and the excessive numbers of minorities in our jails and prisons. Yet Dr. King had the courage, leadership and initiative to open the door of opportunity for minorities. His struggle for peace and freedom will always be an inspiration to carry on his fight.

Ken Hechler, a longtime West Virginia political figure, was the only member of Congress to march with King at Selma in 1965.

[Col. Crackpot]

Dr. King was a national treasure. Few men and women in our lifetime have his courage.

Not to be a prick, but i take offense to him being mentioned in the same sentence as Robert C. Byrd.

[The Kernel]

I really wish people today would learn to reflect on the issue that was most central to Dr. King's message: blacks becoming integrated with whites as oppossed to this "seperate but equal" bullshit that persists to this day. Both white and black people are perfectly happy living with each other, just so long as the differences between white and black people are constantly pointed out to them. This is the legacy of black leaders like Booker T. Washington, a legacy that Martin Luther King fought to change. Despite this though, people who say they agree with his message often forget that he was against the idea that blacks should retain a different identity from whites.

[LadyTevar]

Dr. King was a national treasure. Few men and women in our lifetime have his courage.

Not to be a prick, but i take offense to him being mentioned in the same sentence as Robert C. Byrd.

It was written in a WV paper, he had to compare him to someone the average WVian knew

Other than that, I thought it was a wonderful tribute, and that's why I posted it.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

I remember my late grandpa visited U.S during late 50s. He was denied a first class passenger car because he was considered a "colored" race, despite the fact that he was a foreigner.

While colors may not be as big issue nowadays as during that time, other forms of prejudice and discrimination still exist even today. So I wish there are still "Dr. Kings" among us who actually have the guts to stand against prejudice of any kind.