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People | George Davis
The King Center, and Mrs. Corretta Scott King herself, describes for all of us the meaning of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. “On this day we commemorate Dr. King’s great dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for children of every race and room at the inn for every needy child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great dream for America.” She goes on to say: “It is a day of interracial and intercultural cooperation and sharing. No other day of the year brings so many peoples from different cultural backgrounds together in such a vibrant spirit of brother and sisterhood. Whether you are African-American, Hispanic or Native American, whether you are Caucasian or Asian-American, you are part of the great dream Martin Luther King, Jr. had for America. This is not a black holiday; it is a people’s holiday. And it is the young people of all races and religions who hold the keys to the fulfillment of his dream.” Like all holidays, this is a family holiday. It is a time where members of families can reflect on the meaning of the day. My wife, Merrily, and I are the proud parents of three sons, each of whom finds opportunities to proclaim to others the importance of a just society, and on this day in particular Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what he stood for. Two of our sons have pulpits, for one is a minister, and a second is the head of upper school at a denominational college preparatory school. Our third son is a lawyer, fully committed to inclusiveness and equality. I called him in preparation for this morning, and we were on the same page, both of us in awe of the physical and moral courage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We talked about it over the phone. I arrived at this emphasis on morale, physical, and emotional courage, quite simply, by seeing the contrast between what is generally viewed as tough and courageous in the workaday world, viz Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy of courage. In the former, CEOs make hard, tough decisions; pro football players prepare for the SuperBowl matchups; Provosts cut budgets; a young person breaks up with a girlfriend or boyfriend. In fact, I found myself reflecting on the year 1986, when I became Vice Provost, and in one of my first cabinet meetings witnessed the discussions that at that time were going on in rooms around the country. ‘OK, in adopting MLK Holiday as an official holiday, we must give up another. What will it be?’ I believe in UA’s case it was Rodeo…a holiday and event that superficially is about toughness and courage…but not what we’re talking about here today, not what people around the world this very day are talking about. We are here, in part, because we are astounded by the physical and moral courage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who deliberately put himself in harms way time and time and time again. He boldly threw himself into the phalanxes of injustice, and did so a young man, and with a clear knowledge and emotional understanding of the risks. Yes, Brown vs. the Board of Education had been achieved, but this was not making a difference. Yet, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. changed that. Consider what my youngest son said to me: Dad, up until 1964, every single piece of civil rights legislation brought to the U.S. Congress was defeated. From the days of Reconstruction until 1964, not a single piece of Legislation on Civil Rights passed. Even anti-lynching civil rights legislation was not passed! Through Dr. King’s acts of courage, the atrocity and awfulness became clear to everyone, including importantly the leaders of our Federal Government. Even though Dr. King was radical…for non violence IS radical, he had the vision and the genius and the skill and the courage to find commonalities. He could have gone down in history as a leader who successfully called attention to a completely immoral system but failed to create lasting change. In fact, he pulled back the curtain so far that no one could responsibly claim that they could not see, and he created lasting change. That is why we’re here this morning. This is why we’re going to take a few moments and walk together, and sing together, and envision together. This is why we are here at Old Main, the core and centerpiece of this University, to have some restorative time together, to remind ourselves that Dr. King’s legacy changes everything in what we believe and in what we attempt. Mrs. Coretta Scott King writes: “This holiday honors the courage of a man who endured harassment, threats and beatings, and even bombings. We commemorate the man who went to jail 29 times to achieve freedom for others, and who knew he would pay the ultimate price for his leadership, but kept on marching and protesting and organizing anyway.” Dr. King did know fear: As described by Taylor Branch in his book, Parting the Waters, when Dr. King was arrested he “soon found himself in the back of a radio-summoned police cruiser….King said nothing to the policemen, even when he realized that the cruiser was heading away from downtown. Panic seized him. Why weren’t they going to the jail? The farther they went, …the more King gave in to visions of nooses and lynch mobs. When the cruiser turned a corner on a dark street and headed across a bridge, his mind locked onto a single fear of the river. He was trembling so badly that it took him some time to absorb the meaning of the garish neon sign ahead, ‘Montgomery City Jail.’” Dr. King did wrestle with his fear. Again, as described by Taylor Branch….In his kitchen in Montgomery, out on bail, barraged by telephone threats, receiving a particularly threatening late-night telephone call, “King buried his face in his hands at the kitchen table. He admitted to himself that he was afraid, that he had nothing left, that the people would falter if they looked to him for strength. Then he said as much out loud. He spoke the name of no deity, but his doubts spilled out as a prayer ending, ‘I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone. As he spoke these words, the fears suddenly began to melt away.” …It was for King the first transcendent religious experience of his life.” And, in the face of fear he acted. This is a tiny part of what Dr. King wrote in the now famous April 16, 1963 letter to fellow clergymen from his Birmingham jail cell: “Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was well timed in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait.” …This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’” And he made courageous distinctions: Think of these words! “We must have faith in our movement…And another thing we must realize – this is not a racial conflict basically. I want you to understand me here. We are not going to allow this conflict in Birmingham to deteriorate into a struggle between black people and white people. The tension in Birmingham is between justice and injustice.” Mrs. Correta King calls us today “to commemorate this Holiday by making your personal commitment to serve humanity…” To that end, here at University of Arizona, the quest for new and creative ideas, and the teaching and transfer of those ideas, must be carried out in an environment where the byword is RESPECT. We can all recall experiences when we expressed openly a sincere and honest thought, only to be dumped on by those around. When that happens, time and again, we begin to flinch, we put up our guard, we become tentative, we get angry, we begin to doubt our self worth, we don’t enter in, we don’t ask the questions that should be asked, we don’t present possible new ideas and possible new possibilities. Now if there is added to this a disrespect for those of a different gender, or a different race or ethnicity, or a different sexual preference, or a different religious persuasion, …what is created is an environment where fear and frustration and anger and closed minds will prohibit the attainment of what should be attained. Or, if there is added to this a classism born of underscoring the separateness of staff vs faculty vs administrators vs students, as opposed to emphasizing the commonality and interdependency of all of us, and the Tucson community that surrounds us, we end up with relationships that break down. We end up unable to achieve our collective potential. Universities, especially public universities, should show that way, for we are among the important change agents of society. The essential foundation is community. We must be a purposeful community. We must be an open community. We must be a just community. We must be a caring community. We must be a celebrative community. These are in fact are the Carnegie Foundation’s mandate to colleges and universities for the ‘search for renewal.’ Along with the voice and the heart of Alex Wright, I would like to close with the responsive reading of a congregation in Manhasset, New York, on January 19, 2003. These are in fact the words of MLK:
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