Offie Wortham: If Martin Luther King were here today …

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Offie C. Wortham, Ph.D., a retired college professor who last taught at Johnson State College. Prior to that he taught at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

[I]n the fall of 1981 the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change opened in Atlanta. Dr. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, asked me to conduct the first workshop. She wanted me to talk about where “Martin” would be leading the movement if he were alive. This was such a tremendous responsibility. The world had undergone enormous cultural and social change since 1968, and I was expected to do my own research, make a major speech, and then answer questions.

In preparing for the workshop I read the last few speeches of Dr. King, and I also read the two last speeches of Malcolm X, with whom I had spent some private time. Dr. King and Malcolm X were coming closer together in their world views. Malcolm was becoming less radical, while Dr. King was becoming more critical of the foreign and domestic policies of the country.

I had also recently read “The Third Wave,” by Alvin Toffler, where he put forth the assertion that industrialism was the greatest threat to mankind, not racism. I was sure that not only would Dr. King have read Toffler’s book and shared his thinking, but also that Dr. King would have identified and preached against the implications of the evils of consumerism and materialism, which are dangers Pope Francis now preaches against world-wide.

His message was similar to voices today that say that the present government is wasting billions abroad while cutting domestic programs in every state and county nationwide.

Anyone who opposed the foreign policy of the government was considered unpatriotic and a disloyal citizen …

I believed after my research that Dr. King would have shifted his energies away from social integration, and towards promoting systemic change in our economic system, where lifestyle and class are more important.

Today 33 years have transpired since the opening of the King Center and 46 years — two generations — since the death of Martin Luther King Jr., and without belaboring the point, it is a very different world in which we are considering the question, “In what direction would Dr. King be leading his followers today?”

Before one can even ask in what direction, or who Dr. King would be leading, we must first ask, would there even be a movement for him to lead? The old Civil Rights Movement is no longer in existence because most of its goals and objectives appear to have been realized. Racist laws have been removed; blacks now freely vote and hold elected office; schools and neighborhoods are seemingly desegregated; people of color are now used extensively in segmented advertising, commercials, and marketing; people of color are the presidents of Ivy League colleges and major corporations: racial and ethnic integration has been achieved in motion pictures and television, and we even have a black justice on the Supreme Court and a president who is not white.

Undoubtedly, Dr. King would be intrigued by the results of a study on discrimination in hiring done jointly by the MBA programs of the University of Chicago and MIT a few years ago. They sent out thousands of fake resumes in response to real jobs being advertised nationwide. All the applicants were Phi Beta Kappa and had close to a 4.0 GPA. The only difference in the fictitious young MBAs was their names. Half had clearly African American sounding-names like Shaquille Jackson or Latoya Jones, and the other half were Jack, Mary or Tiffany O’Connor. The white-sounding names received 50 percent more invitations for a job interview!

Is there enough discontent and frustration still left in America to rise up and follow a dynamic leader? The now affluent black middle class, many of whom are only one step out of poverty, quickly forgets. This relatively privileged group often feels threatened by the demands of others who are still powerless, regardless of their color or ethnicity. But we and Dr. King would still have a few unsolved problems:

• That there are more students attending segregated schools in America today than in 1954.

• He would note the dropout rate in high schools located in lower-income neighborhoods is near 50 percent.

• What would he do for the countless thousands of unemployable, semi-literate youth being pushed out of our inefficient high schools?

• The dropout rate in many community colleges nationwide is over 90 percent for black males and over 70 percent for black females. The rate is almost as high for Native Americans and Hispanics.

• The unemployment rate on some Indian reservations and inner-city neighborhoods is over 75 percent.

• There are now over 2 million people in prison, mainly because of an ill-conceived “War on Drugs” and its imprisonment of a generation of under-educated, poor and mainly non-white youth drug users.

• Dr. King would be dramatically opposed to our costly needless invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

• He would be shocked and depressed at the $40,000-$60,000 being offered to the youth of today to fight and die in these wars.

• He would be accused of treason for his pacifism, and threatened with aiding terrorists and arrested under the new Draconian Homeland Security laws.

• What would have been Dr. King’s reaction to the $7 billion bailout to the banks, car companies, and insurance companies?

• Perhaps he would organize demonstrations for the 42 million people without health insurance …

• Or the 16,000,000 unemployed …

• Or the millions of overeducated, underemployed professionals …

• Or the hundreds of thousands of college students who are being burdened for decades with $30,000 to $300,000 student loans that have replaced grants and scholarships.

• What would he say of a relationship between the collapse of the worldwide economy and the increase in profits of the oil companies and corporate executives?

• How much would Dr. King support or oppose the military policies of President Obama? Indeed, would Dr. King be a frequent guest at the White House?

• What would he say to our Congress about the 662 military bases abroad?

• Today, the traditional civil rights organizations seem more concerned about political correctness than getting out and fighting to help the poor and the hopeless, regardless of their ethnicity or color.

And how would Dr. King have reacted to the events in Ferguson? Would he be out there marching in the streets with Al Sharpton, or would he have taken a different approach? My guess is that he would have given a speech from his old church in Atlanta, Ebenezer, within a few days of the incident to urge everyone to react in a non-violent manner and try to find out all the facts before assuming that the police officer had willfully killed Michael Brown. His words would have helped a great deal to calm down those who were seeking revenge for the killing. After the verdict, he might have gone to Furgeson to further instill feelings of hope and trust in the criminal justice system. As unpopular as his message might have been, he would still be trying to bring people together across ethnic and class lines.

Just as all social movements need a powerful force to oppose, Dr. King today would still be fighting against the powerful forces that are oppressing and exploiting the poor today. He would be championing the plight of the homeless whose numbers keep growing, while programs to assist them shrink. Perhaps he would have become a leader in the Occupy Wall Street Movement, which today has no leader.

Let me share with you some prophetic words from Dr. King’s speech at Riverside Church:

“We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace and justice throughout the developing world — a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight. The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.”

We will always have a choice to become involved in efforts to help others who are less fortunate than ourselves, or to do nothing.

Today, we live in an atmosphere of apprehension about employment and financial insecurity, coupled with the omnipresence of a national surveillance system that can track a person to within a quarter of an inch, to a device we willingly carry with us everywhere, the GPS chip in every cell phone. (Some even work when the phone is shut off!) Big Brother would be envious of the hypnotic power of the wall-sized high-definition television screen, soon to be 3D, now being used to condition our children and adults to worship materialism and consumption, instead of any spiritual, moral or religious values.

Dr. King would be greatly challenged today to ignite the passion of indignation and concern that he awakened 40 years ago. Would he succeed? Would love and nonviolence triumph again over greed and ignorance?

We are the only ones who can answer these questions. We always have a choice on which road to follow. Will we rise up, acknowledge and practice our beliefs, or will we remain silent and think only of ourselves. If Dr. King were here today he would be pleading for you to do what is right, and follow him again in an essential new struggle to uplift humanity, and to defeat the International masters of greed!