Quoted Passage & Chapter 5 Commentary

Check out the description of Writing Assignment #2 posted yesterday. Also, remember that tomorrow we'll be seeing "Citizen King" which runs two hours, so we'll be wrapping up around 4:30. Hope most of you can stick around for the whole thing.

The following is the passage from "Racial Matters" by Kenneth O'Reilly (p. 130) that I quoted in class yesterday regarding the FBI's reaction to King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
"In no position to challenge the director, Sullivan submitted Division Five's apology on August 30: 'The Director is correct. We were completely wrong...the Communist Party, USA, does wield substantial influence over Negroes which one day could become decisive.' He discussed King's "I Have a Dream" speech, labeling it 'demagogic,' and marked King 'as the most dangerous Negro leader of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security.' To meet the threat, the FBI must concentrate on 'the many Negroes who are fellow-travellers, sympathizers or who aid the Party, knowingly or unknowingly, but do not qualify as members.' It would 'be unrealistic to limit ourselves as we have been doing to legalistic proofs or definitely conclusive evidence that would stand up in court of before Congressional Committees.'"


REMAINING COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 5:

1. They (the FBI) also (allegedly) caught him in the act at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC and prepared a "highlights tape," which was sent along with the note suggesting he commit suicide or face being exposed.

I. Meanwhile, King gradually settled on St. Augustine, Florida as SCLC's next target. They competed with SNCC's "Freeedom Summer" campaign in Mississippi for media attention. Basically, they sought another dramatic confrontation to intensify pressure on Congress to pass the civil rights bill.

1. The KKK was active and violent in St. Augustine.

2. Hosea Williams proposed a series of night marches to the historic Slave Market. After one group was attacked, King appealed for federal help to no avail. President Johnson did not want to irritate his fellow Southern Democrats.

3. There was other violence -- white racists were determined to crush the SCLC campaign. It was brutal. Sitkoff describes a June 25th atttack of 800 Klansmen. After this, Blacks were ready to fight back and King and his aides tried to talk them out of it.

4. King left for Atlanta with a mere verbal agreement by the governor to establish a bi-racial committee. Sitkoff suggests this was a partial victory at best. "He neither secured federal intervention nor improved the lot of the local black community. The SCLC neither left a grassroots movement in place nor initiated a follow-up campaign when the racial situation worsened. But the demonstrations kept America conscious of the violence and bloodshed that epitomized the reality and horror of racism. They pricked the conscience of the nation, speeding passage of the Civil Rights Act. The needs of the local black community counted for less. 'Some communities,' the preacher noted, 'like this one, have to bear the cross.'" (p. 135)

J. On July 2, 1964, King joined other civil rights leaders at the White House for the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And he reminded us of how this had been fought for.

K. King speaks out in support of a boycott against South Africa and its apartheid policy. He also went to the Republican National Convention to plead for a progressive civil rights policy -- a plea which fell on deaf ears.

L. He did a 5-day tour in Mississippi to show his support for Freedom Summer. He endorsed the MFDP. Sitkoff mentions some appearances and speeches, how SNCC field secretaries snickered "De Lawd, De Lawd..."

1. SNCC opposed a moratorium on demonstrations that King had agreed to at the request of LBJ, not wanting to give his opponent, Goldwater, some ammunition.

M. Then, Sitkoff recounts King's efforts to seat the MFDP at the Democratic National Convention in lieu of the regular Mississippi delegation. King addressed the Credentials Committee forthrightly, but later he made what many regarded as a cowardly compromise with Johnson forces.

1. Introduced to Ms. Fanny Lou Hamer who gave her harrowing account of trying to register to vote, which Johnson nullified the effect of by calling a press conference when she was testifying.

a.) Johnson also used the FBI to keep tabs on King and the MFDP. (Similar actions led to Nixon's later resignation and probable impeachment, but Johnson got away with it.)

2. King as a national civil rights leader was thinking about the prospects for civil rights legislation and the War on Poverty and so agreed to a compromise, which was strongly denounced by SNCC (Bob Moses, Forman, etc.). The personal attacks hurt King. He left before Johnson gave his acceptance speech.

a.) King later checks into an Atlanta hospital with a viral infection, high blood pressure, 20lbs overweight. While there he is informed by Coretta that he won the Nobel Peace Prize, which he acknowledged gave him an even heavier cross to bear.

N. King gets into a little flap with the FBI, criticizing the Bureau in public, to which Hoover responds that King is the "most notorious liar in the country." That sets the stage for a face-to-face meeting between King and Hoover, which really did not amount to much. And FBI officials denied (and thereby lied) that they were out to get him.

O. He travels to Sweden to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. In his speech, which we will later read, he spoke out for a global war on poverty and a planet free of nuclear weapons. He is expanding his message.

P. The chapter closes with the mailing of the Burreau's "Christmas package" to the King home, including the note threatening his exposure as an "evil, abnormal beast." I provided a xerox of the routing information (who delivered it) along with the note, as it was disclosed. I cannot speak to the blacked-out portions, but what is not blacked out is certainly bad enough. And let me underscore how ILLEGAL this was for the FBI or any law enforcement agency to do this. It is tantamount to BLACKMAIL.



That brings us to Chapters 6 & 7, which we'll try to cover next Tuesday (3/10), and Jeremy, Megan, and Tomas will give their textual commentaries.