 Commentary
Our Story
This month, we celebrated
both Dr. Martin Luther King’s actual birth date and a national
holiday in his honor. I must say my life, since I was 9-years
old (going on 40), has been lived trying to realize the dream of
not being acknowledged by the color of my skin, but by the
content of my character. Excellence, in my book and as the kids
would say; RULES! I have long contemplated and have never
forgotten Dr. King’s final speech on April 3, 1968, when he
spoke about Pharoah:
Now what does all of this mean in this
great period of history? It means that we’ve got to stay
together. (Yeah) We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity.
You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of
slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing
it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among
themselves. [applause] But whenever the slaves get together,
something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the
slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that’s the
beginning of getting out of slavery. [applause] Now let us
maintain unity.
This powerful statement
has remained with me for many, many years. The need to stick
together and maintain unity is just as important today as it was
when he uttered these words at the rally at Mason Temple in
Memphis. On April 9, 1968, while watching the funeral
procession for Dr. King, I vowed I would live the dream of Dr.
Martin Luther King; no matter what happened in my life, I would
always move forward, in the words of Dr. King, with “honor,
dignity and respectability.”
From that day forward,
whenever I entered into talent shows, I would sing the songs of
the time that kept the message of hope and freedom alive. Some
of those songs were Bill Withers Lean on Me, or Edwin
Starr's Stop The War, Now! For Edwin Starr’s song, I
grabbed many of my elementary school friends and we marched into
the auditorium carrying our homemade signs of protest against
the Vietnam war. I did not want people in attendance to only
hear the words of a song, I wanted them to know why the song was
being performed and understand its meaning. Whenever I did
performances of my works I would incorporate snippets of our
history as well in order to keep our regal history alive. My
last performance was the summer of 1976 at the Carter G. Woodson
Library. After giving such a powerful reading and performance
and feeling the rush from the audience, I walked outside and
while on my way home, I found a community of folks who had
transformed from people of power to victims of an imported
culture – Superfly and The Mac. That afternoon,
as I entered a store I heard a sister remark to another –
“that’s my nigger, girl.” Needless to say, I was
devastated. We had gone from a people moving with “dignity,
honor and respectability,” to a people traveling fast down a
slippery slope of complacency. Dr. King please:
We don’t have to argue with anybody. We
don’t have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We
don’t need any bricks and bottles; we don’t need any Molotov
cocktails. (Yes) We just need to go around to these stores (Yes
sir), and to these massive industries in our country, (Amen) and
say, "God sent us by here (All right) to say to you that you’re
not treating His children right. (That’s right) And we’ve come
by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair
treatment where God’s children are concerned. Now if you are not
prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow.
And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."
[applause]
King speech, April 3,
1968.
It was equally
exhilarating to see a nation rise up last week, come together,
and protest in unity, against the war, or rumor of war, planned
on Iraq. It gave me hope that as a nation, Black men and women
along with White men and women, can come together and reject the
blank check our government is trying to write on the people of
Iraq – and for what purpose this war? In 1968, there was the
war in Vietnam and Civil Rights. Today, we have a potential war
on Iraq and Affirmative Action. The more things change, the
more they stay the same.
 In
1963, Bayard Rustin, an openly gay man, was the chief organizer
of the March on Washington, a massive demonstration to rally
support for civil-rights legislation that was pending in
Congress. In 1964 he directed a one-day student boycott of New
York City's public schools in protest against racial imbalances
in that system. Rustin subsequently served as president of the
A. Philip Randolph Institute, a civil-rights organization in New
York City, from 1966 to 1979.
This Black gay man was barely recognized for his work for
civil-rights – not because he was Black, not because he was a
man. He was never given proper credit because he was
homosexual. How many gays and lesbians marched with Dr. King in
Selma, Montgomery, Memphis, or Chicago? The answer is many.
How many Black gays and lesbians started breakfast programs,
after school programs, marched, directed rallies, drove folks to
and from work during the bus boycott? The answer: too numerous
to count – a house divided cannot stand. I reflect again now
upon the words of Dr. King regarding Pharoah and the words of
Willie Lynch regarding slavery: Divide and conquer.
This year, another
historic event will take place here in Los Angeles: The
National Black Lesbian Conference. We as Black Lesbians need to
come together this year to form coalitions, share ideas,
converse, form alliances, network, and show our support for one
another. Not all of us are political, not all of us are into
roles, not all of us are Republican or Democrat, not all of us
are activists, not all of us are out, some of us are older, some
of us are younger – let that not be the division wedged between
us. We need to come together as sisters, sorors if you will, to
share experiences because some of us have experiences to share
that may prove helpful to someone else. In this way, whatever
problems or successes you encounter upon leaving the conference,
you can share with a fellow soror – whatever you’re dealing
with, wherever you are. Let’s join forces and work together in
unity.
Zuna
Institute in partnership with
Progressive Research & Training
for Action (PRTA) and The Lesbian Health Research Center
University California San Francisco will conduct The Black
Lesbian Elder Speak Project. This project is designed to
attract 100 black lesbians who are 55 and over. An Elders Life
History Review will be conducted with the women who attend. The
purpose of this review is to obtain information on their past
and current life experiences, and to document the health status
of these women. It is their hope that by bringing these women
from all across California and other parts of the United States
together; it will diminish the sense of isolation and start to
build a national older black lesbian community network. We need
this. Listen to the words of
Ruth
Ellis when she asks for the young to visit the old, take
them out to dinner, visit with them – these women have fought
the good fight and one day, those of us under 55 will be 55.
Let’s set precedence and develop a model for others to follow.
If you cannot make it to
the conference, help get someone there. Support Zuna by
contributing to the scholarship fund established to get women to
the conference. Support women under and over 55, support our
college and university students, support those women who lack
the means to get there but want to go. Support someone you
know. The clichés are numerous, but together we can make a
difference.
I will end this mid month
commentary with the words of Vallerie Wagner, Chair
of the Los Angeles NBLC Committee and final words from Dr.
Martin Luther King's last speech. Some of you may have seen Ms.
Wagner’s words in an email I sent addressing concerns about
whether you need be political in order to attend. The answer is
no. You don’t have to be “Out” in your communities or home
town. You just need to be there and be counted among our
diverse community of women. At this time in our nation’s
history, we need to come together to form the bonds necessary to
keep moving forward, “let nothing slow
you up. Move on with dignity, honor and respectability.”
Vallerie Wagner . . .
I remember having a conversation with a
group of friends discussing being 'out' and what it meant to be
politically active. At one point, the conversation got pretty
heated as women weighed in with their personal beliefs. Several
things remain with me from that conversation:
· once
you begin the coming out process, it never ends; there is always
going to be someone new to come out to;
· not
all of us have to be out; but those of us who are have an
obligation to provide voices for those who haven't been able to
find theirs (and may not ever find them)
· just
being in a relationship with another person of the same gender
is a political statement even if you're not politically active
I say all of that to say that the
conference is for Black Lesbians; however they chose to identify
those terms for themselves. No one is going to stand at the
door and ask for a card certifying that the attendee is a bona
fide lesbian (as if there is such a thing). I hope women will
come to the conference with an open mind because
a closed mind is the only thing that can and will guarantee they
won't feel comfortable or safe just being themselves.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s
last speech . . .
Well, I don’t know what will happen now;
we’ve got some difficult days ahead. (Amen) But it really
doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the
mountaintop. (Yeah) [applause] And I don’t mind. [applause
continues] Like anybody, I would like to live a long
life—longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that
now. I just want to do God’s will. (Yeah) And He’s allowed me to
go up to the mountain. (Go ahead) And I’ve looked over (Yes
sir), and I’ve seen the Promised Land. (Go ahead) I may not get
there with you. (Go ahead) But I want you to know tonight, (Yes)
that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. [applause]
(Go ahead. Go ahead) 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. [applause]
Let's not diminish our
power, potential or the valuable contributions we can all make
in our respective communities.
Source:
http://www.thekingcenter.org
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/
To see the full-text
version of Dr. King's last speech, or to hear the last paragraph
of this speech, follow the links below:
I've Been To The Mountaintop - 3 April 1968 (PDF version of
speech)
King's last speech.
Acrobat PDF |
Quicktime |
Realmedia
Courtesy of:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/
|
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