On the evening of April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his last speech. The world remembers his speech in Memphis, Tennessee, as the Mountaintop Speech. Most famously, the closing few paragraphs live in the hearts and minds of Americans for its soaring rhetoric and sheer mouth-opening awe. “I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land,” said Dr. King before his even more famous closing. We all know Dr. King made the ultimate sacrifice but buried in his speech may have been the reason why. Reverend King was in Memphis to support the black and poor sanitation workers who were paid approximately one dollar four cents an hour,
The question is not, “If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?” The question is, If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?” That’s the question.
I am old enough to recall when Dr. King was a hated figure in white America, not for his visions of peace but for his demand for equity. That was the essence of the man, selflessness mirrored by service. Even as a young man, I recognized that others’ ignorance of equity was not my blame. I am roiled when people say the fight for equality is not over. I believe the fight should have never been for equality; I was born equal, and anything less is a tacit ADMISSION OF INFERIORITY. The struggle has always been for equity.
I was raised by my great-grandmother, who was born in 1903. Her oldest son dropped out of school in sixth grade, went to work to help support the family and read two newspapers daily. I would watch her read the daily newspaper displaying a sly smile at the corner of her lips. She was proud but never thought it was exceptional that she could read. She would say I am not different; I just “got the opportunity.” A few years later, Dr. King was murdered. My friends and I were stunned, but she had a look of unsurprised expectancy. With tears in her eyes, she asked me how I would remember Martin Luther King. I stared and scratched my head. Her face went from despair to anger, “why are you scratching your head?” she asked. Later in my life, after reading the full text of Dr. King’s Mountaintop speech, I understood:
I can remember -- I can remember when Negroes were just going around, as Ralph has said, so often, scratching where they didn’t itch, and laughing when they were not tickled. But that day is all over. We mean business now, and we are determined to gain our rightful place in God’s world.
Since then, I have made it a point to read and learn as much as possible, and my journey is endless. For the believers in the crowd of admirers—that Wednesday evening in April of 1968, Dr. King made a pledge. Just as Harriet Tubman’s last words were of promise, “ I go to prepare a place for you,” Dr. King’s message was for all who would listen:
“[And] I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I’m happy, tonight.
I’m not worried about anything.
I’m not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!”
And not once during his speech did he scratch his head.
Continue to Vote for Change