Reminder & More Commentary

First, since many were absent last Thursday, 4/23, let me remind everyone that you need to check out the previous blog post which describes our one-and-only family activity -- making up questions for the final exam. I will give the families some time on Tuesday and Thursday of this week to confer about this. Each family will then need to designate someone to submit your 5 short-answer final exam questions by next Monday, May 4th.

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More Commentary: I am still committed to saying something about all of the remaining selections in A Testament of Hope that I have asked you to read, so let me do some of that on this blog.

#46 "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

I started to comment on this last Thursday and did not finish. I did bring out King's references to Socrates in Plato's "Apology" and "Crito," which are quite appropriate, I argued.

D. King answers the charge of being an "extremist" -- actually, he felt he was a moderating force, moderating the real potential for blacks to become violent. (See last paragraph, p. 296 - 297)

E. Maybe America is in need of "creative extremists". (In this context, he acknowledges some courageous whites who stood with them.)

1. Church needs to lead, not just follow -- to be a THERMOSTAT, not just a THERMOMETER.

F. Finally, King takes these preachers to task for praising the police because they've kept "order." In this context he argues that the means must be as pure as the ends -- "Now we must recognize: it is wrong to use moral means to preserve immoral ends." (p. 301, bottom)


#49 Kenneth B. Clark Interview (1963, prior to March on Washington)

A. Clark, a prominent black psychologist, comments that he has not doubt that King's "love thy enemy" approach is genuine.

B. King does mention Erich Fromm's book, "The Art of Loving" -- how hate can be internally corrosive (bottom, p. 334), and love can be a force for personality integration.
(This suggests to me that King had probably read Fromm's "The Sane Society," and so he knew of Fromm's concept of the "pathology of normalcy," which has some connection to Dr. King's call to be "maladjusted.")

C. Clark asks King about Malcolm X's criticism of his "love thy enemy" approach -- doesn't it play into the hands of the oppressors -- to which King responds that Malcolm X did not understand the notion of AGAPE love.

D. Concludes on a hopeful note, but acknowledges there will be resistance and very real problems in the North related to employment and housing discrimination.


#23 "Behind the Selma March" (3 April 1965)

A. Headnote gives some good background. Notes some pressure from President Johnson and Hoover on King to "be more reasonable." Also comments on how the demonstrators were unmercifully beaten on the first attempted march (part of which was caught on camera).

B. King explains his actions during the second march when he decided to turn around. Says it would have been futile and led to violence if they tried to penetrate the "human wall" of law enforcement officers (which actually openned up at the last minute). But there clearly were other considerations (and I am not sure I buy King's explanation here).


#30 "Negroes Are Not Moving Too Fast" (7 November 1964)

A. Dr. King seems very cognizant of the potential for violence if there is little progress. Economic issues are highlighted.

B. King criticizes some thoughtless actions of other demonstrators, and then comments: "Action is not itself a virtue; its goals and its forms determine its values." (p. 179 top) (I agree wholeheartedly. When you act thoughtlessly, however justified, you may do your cause more harm than good.)

1. He understands also how many would interpret such acts, regardless of the justness of their cause.

C. King concludes with a nice response to what he perceives to be the message of Republican presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater. (See last paragraph, p. 180 and all of p. 181)


#31 "Civil Right No. 1: The Right to Vote" (March 14, 1965, appropriately in the midst of the Selma Campaign)

A. As one of our textual commentators brought out, King is optimistic about what voting might have accomplished or can accomplish -- he speculates that had blacks been able to vote in the South, they might have done something about the conditions which led many to migrate to the North. (See pp. 182-3)

That brings us up to selection #32, which is where I plan to pick up tomorrow. Remember, there will be no textual commentaries this week, and just the last two during the final week. Next Tuesday 5/5 your papers are due, and next Thursday 5/7, writing assignment #4 is due.