Remembering the legacy of Dr. King
Adapted from an original speech by
Rupert W. Nacoste, Ph.D
North Carolina State University
Keynote Address delivered at the 14 Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast, sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, United States Pentagon, Washington, DC, January 14, 1998.
We've got some difficult days ahead.
That's what he said.
We've got some difficult days ahead.
That fateful night, when it seemed he knew he would be dead the next day, the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said,
"We've got some difficult days ahead."
That fateful night, after so many battles had been won, he said,
"We've got some difficult days ahead."
A curious choice of words, no matter how you look at it.
If you say, like so many do, that on this night his speech was prophecy of his own death, it's a very curious choice of words because he said, "we've" got some difficult days ahead. "We've got not you've got, not y'all got, but "we've got."
A curious choice of words.
If you say he was looking at how far we still had yet to go, it's curious given all the new legislation at our disposal that included at the time the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and even an Executive Order on Affirmative Action. With all that at the ready, and being enforced like never before, he said “We’ve got some difficult days ahead.”
A curious choice of words.
If you don't already know, do understand that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. always chose his words carefully. No, no, I don’t mean that he was careful not to hurt anybody's feelings. I mean that to him, each word was part of a cadence, each word was part of a voice sonata, each word and phrase was part of a speaking symphony.
No wonder, then, that we heard eloquence like,
"..say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteous
No wonder, then, that we heard phrases like,
"Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."
Dr. King always chose his words carefully. That's why I am certain that his choice of words in Memphis was no accident. He meant to say, "We've got some difficult days ahead."
But what... what was he thinking of... what did he already know? It was clear that he knew.
Somehow he already knew.
Maybe he knew and wanted to tell us that integration was not the whole answer.
Maybe he knew too, and would tell us today, that integration isn’t the whole problem.
Maybe he just knew, that a new freedom would bring new problems
Maybe he just knew,
that an old style watchful community could become a new style “don’t see nothin" community.
Maybe he just knew,
that an old style parenting community might become a new style “that’s not my child" community.
Maybe he just knew,
that vigilance might give way to complacency.
Maybe he just knew,
that righteous action might give way to self-righteous inaction.
Maybe he just knew,
that caution might give way to arrogance.
Maybe he just knew,
that group cohesion might give way to unbridled individualism.
Maybe he just knew that group politics might give way to party politics.
Maybe because he knew these things, he said, “we’ve got some difficult days ahead.”
By the way, he didn’t say that only black people had some difficult days ahead. He said “we’ve got.”
You must understand, Reverend King was a smart man. Sure, on that April night in 1968, his audience in the Mason Temple in Memphis was mostly black. But Dr. King knew that the cameras were rolling. He had realized long before that night, that he had become the moral voice of America.
He knew this because of the amount of hate directed at him. Why pay attention and waste energy on him? Why? Because his words, his cadences, his moral message was getting through to others. His moral authority was powerful and growing. So no doubt, he was speaking to us all, every man, woman, non-binary folks and every child of every race. He was speaking to all of us when he said, “we’ve got some difficult days ahead.” Behind those words I hear an exhortation to “get ready, get ready.”
And now today, we live in those difficult days.
I find it odd, myself, that even as are nearly a quarter way into the new millennium, we continue to blame the difficulties around us on ignorance. We are still saying that people don’t know any better. Yet I wonder…
I wonder if it really was ignorance that led two men to kidnap a young gay man, tie him to a fence and beat him with a pistol until his skull collapsed. I wonder.
I wonder if it was ignorance that led a gunman to shoot and kill eight people, 6 of them women of Asian descent, in three Asian businesses in Atlanta. I wonder if it was ignorance when a gunman targeting LatinX residents shopping in a Walmart in El Paso shot and killed 22 people and injured dozens more. I wonder if it was ignorance with a Minneapolis Police Officer, charged with protecting life and safety, knelt on the neck of George Floyd in Minneapolis for over 9 minutes killing him…I wonder.
No, these were not acts of ignorance, but acts of hate. Acts of this sort are not prevented by education alone. More information is not the only answer. Because the source of the problem is in the examples we allow to strive in our communities. The answer is in different examples in our communities. The answer is in different communities.
Communities of zero tolerance….racial jokes are never neutral; they are divisive. Gay jokes are never neutral; they are divisive. Blonde jokes are never neutral; they are divisive.
When you look at the pictures of the men who did these acts of evil I have mentioned, you might notice a glazed look on their faces. Glazed, coming to reality looks. It was as if they were coming out of a hypnotic trance.
And in fact they were. They had been hypnotized by the community’s tolerance for hostility. It had been all around them; tolerance for deep hostility toward black, indigenous and people of color; tolerance for deep hostility toward gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, trans-gendered and queer people; deep hostility toward women; deep hostility toward immigrants. It was this tolerance that allowed them to think for just long enough, that what they were doing was alright.
Only when these men heard the community's uproar after the fact, did they begin to come to understand the reality of how the community had betrayed them through misguided tolerance.
In one of my favorite movies, The Lion King, we learn about the Circle of Life from the great leader, Mufasa, who teaches his son Simba. One of the lessons Mufasa teaches Simba is that the great leaders of the past watch us, to see how we are doing. And if we are smart, we try to follow their examples of doing good work.
You see our great leaders are part of the circle of life. And we keep them in the circle of life by remembering them. Surely the best way for us to remember them is through our behavior; trying to continue the good work they started.
In the story of the Lion King, the great king Mufasa is killed. Later in spirit, Mufasa comes back to remind his son Simba of that lesson. Mufasa tells Simba to REMEMBER….
We’ve got some difficult days ahead. That’s what he said. And it’s still true. Ahead of us lies some difficult days. But that’s alright, if we remember….
That’s it’s not simply enough to attend a breakfast celebration for Dr. King. It is not even enough, for Epsicopalians to be satisfied being Episcopalians. We must reach beyond ourselves; individually and institutionally; all of us.
It is not enough for me to be satisfied with whatever I think I’ve achieved. It is not enough for us to be satisfied with how far we think we have come from our beginnings. That kind of self-satisfaction is what Dr. King warned us against when he said, “We’ve got difficult days ahead.”
And yes there are yet still more difficult days to come. But, we will persevere if we remember…
Reflecting on the poet Robert Frost, remember that although,
“The woods are lovely dark and deep.
[We] have promises to keep.
And miles to go before [we] sleep.
And miles to go before [we] sleep.”
Remember those promises to keep.
Remember, “we’ve got difficult days ahead”
Remember, in the circle of life, we are all tied to each other.