Dr. King Discussion: Speech One

[antonyh]

Here is the first Landmark Speech of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Study Guide:
1) What insights did you gain from this speech about your own civil rights activism?
2) What insights could be applied to our civil rights activism as a community (not just Soulforce, but all LGBT civil rights organizations)?

Address to First Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) Mass Meeting, at Holt Street Baptist Church

5 December 1955
Montgomery, Alabama

My friends, we are certainly very happy to see each of you out this evening. We are here this evening for serious business. [Audience:] (Yes) We are here in a general sense because first and foremost we are American citizens (That's right), and we are determined to apply our citizenship to the fullness of its meaning. (Yeah. That's right) We are here also because of our love for democracy (Yes), because of our deep-seated belief that democracy transformed from thin paper to thick action (Yes) is the greatest form of government on earth. (That's right)

Continued at Stanford U:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/p...lt_street.html

[antonyh]

As I read this speech by Dr. King, Rosa Parks comes into focus for me. Here is one lady that refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. That one act alone in many ways seemed to spark the civil rights movement for African Americans. Our personal activism is important, but we often forget this fact. It is much easier to trust our destiny to the professionals at HRC, Lambda Legal, etc. While we need these organizations, every LGBT person needs to become an activist for us to take this thing home.

[Gennee]

You're right, Antonyh. I have been involved with a couple of organizations. i hope to become more involved in the future. I will become more involved because protections for gender identity is important to me personally.

Gennee

[Vanessa White]

Antony: I have yet to get the audios of his speeches, which I know that I will have to do, just out of the necessity to hear his beautiful voice stating these very words. Two things strike me about this speech:
First, Martin seemed able, at least in this speech, to not only inspire emotional responses by those that were listening to him, in a way, able to stir the spirit of those people, yet he was also able to be "practical", in speaking about the actual laws on the books that "forbid" a negro from sitting on certain sections of the bus. I never really noticed that balance before in a speech of his, because the ability to "raise the roof" is always what got my attention. But, both parts are needed, I believe, to be an effective activist.

That being said, the second part that I think of when I read this one, is something that I read about Rosa Parks after she passed away a year or two ago. She often said in interviews after the Montgomery bus boycotts, and her arrest, that she didn't sit down INTENDING to be an activist, INTENDING on disobeying the so called city ordinance.

She had worked all day and she was tired.

Something that I would presume many of us would want to do at the end of a hard day's work. So, in a sense, she became an activist without even intending to. The lesson I take from that is that, even when I am sitting down because I am tired, I am making a statement, standing for something important, making a difference.

I really don't want to wait for others to represent me, or our community. I need to be brave enough and strong enough to say the words myself. So we can all "sit" in any seat on the "bus" that we want to.

[antonyh]

Originally Posted by Vanessa White

She often said in interviews after the Montgomery bus boycotts, and her arrest, that she didn't sit down INTENDING to be an activist, INTENDING on disobeying the so called city ordinance.

She had worked all day and she was tired.

That is interesting. I wonder if she is just being humble. She refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. It was an act of civil disobedience. I'm sure she didn't intend all this to happen but when the moment came she stood her ground.

I think as LGBT people we often have moments to "stand our ground". I think making a commitment to being out is the most important way we stand our ground as LGBT individuals.

Aside:

I found a photograph of Rosa Parks taken in 1955 the year of the speech we are reading. The man in the background is Martin Luther King.

[antonyh]

Here is the quote from MLK:

Mrs. Rosa Parks is a fine person. (Well,) And, since it had to happen, I'm happy that it happened to a person like Mrs. Parks, (Yes) for nobody can doubt the boundless outreach of her integrity. (Sure enough) Nobody can doubt the height of her character (Yes)...And I'm happy, since it had to happen, it happened to a person that nobody can call a disturbing factor in the community. (All right) Mrs. Parks is a fine...person, unassuming, and yet there is integrity and character there. And just because she refused to get up, she was arrested.

I think it is interesting that Dr. King makes such a big deal about the integrity of Rosa Parks and how central it was in the effectiveness of her civil disobedience. Character is actually part of the soulforce credo here at this site too:
http://www.soulforce.org/article/682

I was reading what Jerry Maneker said in his blog recently at Christian LGBT Rights. Here is his blistering critique about lack of character and meaningful activism in the LGBT community:

Of course, I can be wrong in this contention, but I see no evidence of the desire for meaningful activism galvanizing itself behind any current LGBT rights "leader(s)"; I see that "meaningful activism" as anemically being identified, as I stated in my November 15th post, with marching in Pride parades and referring to oneself and to others in the LGBT community with demeaning labels.

Self-loathing only goes so far as to explain this phenomenon! I think the lion's share of the blame for the political apathy and disdain for, and/or the desire for distraction from, discussions of meaningful activism, as seen by comments on assorted progressive LGBT blogs, is pure, unadulterated, selfishness ("I've got mine!") and with one's being content with not even thinking or, worse, even caring, that he/she is still a second-class citizen; frivolity; hedonism; self-indulgence that has characterized America, and much if not most of the LGBT community, since the 1980's...

The tragedy, it seems to me, is that it's a combination of self-indulgence; hedonism (see here, for example); addiction to frivolity; selfishness; with a touch of self-loathing that consciously and unconsciously "justifies" the feeling that the homophobes "might have something there" in their condemnation and denying Gay people the same civil and sacramental rights as Straight people enjoy.
http://christianglbtrights.blogspot....eaningful.html

Interesting, so what do you think...is the character we have and the character we bring to activism essential to make meaningful progress?

[antonyh]

Originally Posted by Gennee

You're right, Antonyh. I have been involved with a couple of organizations. i hope to become more involved in the future. I will become more involved because protections for gender identity is important to me personally.

Gennee

This is definitely a great place to get active. In America, four states, 57 cities and 10 counties include transgender people in antidiscrimination laws. 25% of the U.S. population is legally protected from at least some kinds of transgender discrimination and 75% is not.

Lots to do for sure.