In this Moment of Grief
H., I.
FOR ALL OF THREE DAYS there was hope. Lyndon Johnson announced he would not run again; a bombing pause, of sorts, had been declared for North Vietnam; Hanoi's response indicated that...
...And he has to do this even if he knows that his own destruction will result— perhaps especially when he knows...
...It is a society, our America, that is shot through with racism from top to bottom and in which democracy is violated each day...
...As for ourselves, there can be no doubt which course we choose...
...But the murder of Martin Luther King shows the ugliness of American racism...
...In the murder of Martin Luther King we saw the other side of America...
...In a day or two we shall join the thousands of trade unionists and other people who will march in Memphis, under the leadership of Bayard Rustin, to show their solidarity with the strik ing garbage workers for whom only a few hours ago Martin Luther King spoke...
...His only recourse is to strike a blow...
...If we wish to keep American Negroes from being butchered in the streets this summer, we must say with absolute firmness: whoever counsels or acquiesces in violence is helping pave the way for an American fascism...
...Yet if we still wish to save this country, we must say with absolute firmness: whoever counsels or acquiesces in violence is totally irresponsible...
...a bombing pause, of sorts, had been declared for North Vietnam...
...Hanoi's response indicated that negotiations might at last begin to end the war...
...His only assertion of selfhood is to smash his fist, at a white policeman or through a store window...
...We saw it as evidence that with enough popular pressure and involvement, detestable policies could be changed and the men who spoke for them dislodged from office...
...All of us know what the disastrous consequences are likely to be...
...These words, together with be happier ones that follow on the next few pages, reflect that doubleness...
...For three days it seemed as if finally this country might take a turn toward reason and reconstruction...
...Yes, the events leading to President Johnson's withdrawal did —they still do—represent a triumph for democracy...
...And yet, remembering that voice, who can contain his grief...
...All of us know what a loss we have suffered...
...They cannot be understood apart from the encasing atmosphere of violence and hatred which has always been a significant part of American life...
...And then came the news of the murder of Martin Luther King...
...Whoever pulled the trigger, the blood of Martin Luther King also lies on the head of George Wallace, April 6 and on the heads of many others, North and South, high and low, who have enacted or tolerated the humiliation of the American Negro...
...By the time this will be read, you will have had enough of that...
...Lyndon Johnson announced he would not run again...
...There comes a moment when a man cannot take any more, a moment at which he no longer cares to reason or think...
...No one can fail to understand why American Negroes should now respond with rage —or even violence...
...We felt this to be a vindication of democracy...
...Here is the two-sidedness, the terrible am bivalence of America: the power of democ racy and the power of racism, the way of community and the way of blood, the value of fraternity and the value of hatred...
...LET THERE BE no rhetoric...
...The people who killed Martin Luther King may have been fanatics or lunatics, but they do not exist in isolation...
...What we cannot yet know fully is the amount of damage certain to be sustained within the Negro community itself...
Vol. 15 • May 1968 • No. 3
