Southern Christian leaders' conference
Atlanta, Georgia
1967 August
Now, to answer the question "Where are we going?" This is also our theme. First of all, we should make clear our present situation. When the constitution was drafted, an incredible formula stipulated that blacks were only 60% of a complete person in terms of tax payment and voting rights. Now another incredible formula stipulates that a black person is 50% of a complete person. For the good things in life, blacks only enjoy about half of what whites enjoy; And the unhappiness in life, blacks have to bear twice as much as whites. As a result, half of the blacks live in low-standard houses. And the income of blacks is only half that of whites. Whenever we look at the negative experiences in life, black people always occupy double share. The unemployment rate of blacks is twice that of whites. In Vietnam, the mortality rate of black babies is twice that of whites, and the proportion of blacks in the total population is twice that of whites.
Other fields have equally amazing figures. In primary schools, blacks are one to three years behind whites, and in their segregated schools, students receive much less subsidies per capita than white schools. Of the 20 college students, only one is black. Of the working blacks, 75% are engaged in menial work.
This is our situation. Where is our way out? First of all, we must safeguard our dignity and value. We must stand up in a system that still oppresses us and form an unbreakable and dignified value. We can no longer be ashamed of being black. It is not easy to instill in people who have been humble and insignificant for hundreds of years and arouse their dignity as human beings.
Black describes black contribution.
Even semantics seems to conspire to describe black as ugly and despicable. There are 120 synonyms related to black in Roger's classified dictionary, among which at least 60 words are hidden, such as dirty, soot, ferocious, devil, disgusting and so on. There are about 134 synonyms related to white, but all of them are praise, such as purity, cleanliness, chastity, innocence and so on. White lies are better than malicious lies. The most despised member of the family is called "black sheep" (black sheep). Ossie. Davis once suggested rebuilding English, so that teachers don't have to teach black children 60 ways to despise themselves and make them feel an undue inferiority complex, but teach white children 134 ways to pamper themselves and make them feel a false sense of superiority.
The tendency to ignore the contribution of blacks to American life and deprive them of the right to be human has been recorded in the earliest American history books such as the Daily Morning News. In order to break this cultural strangulation, blacks must stand up and declare their noble personality. Any movement that ignores this and strives for freedom for blacks will be futile. As long as the mind is enslaved, the body will never be liberated. Psychological freedom, that is, a strong sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon to overcome the long night of physical slavery. Neither Lincoln's Emancipation Declaration nor Johnson's Civil Rights Act can fully bring this freedom. Only by signing their emancipation proclamation from the heart and with a firm personality pen and ink can black people gain real freedom. Black people must boldly abandon the shackles of self-denial and try their best to say to themselves and the world in the spirit of self-esteem: "I am not an idle generation." I am a person, I am a person with dignity and honor. I have a rich and noble history. What a painful history of exploitation it was. Yes, I inherited my slave status from my ancestors, but I am not ashamed of it. To my shame, those sinful people forced me to be a slave. "Yes, we have to stand up and say," I'm black and I'm beautiful. "Blacks need this kind of self-affirmation, and the crimes committed by whites against blacks make this kind of self-affirmation even more necessary.
Major challenges
Another major challenge is how to strengthen our strength economically and politically. There is no doubt that blacks urgently need this kind of legal power. In fact, a serious problem faced by blacks is the lack of power. From the old plantations in the south to the newer slums in the north, blacks are forced to live a silent and helpless life. Deprived of the right to decide their own life and destiny, they can only let the arbitrary and sometimes capricious decisions made by the white authorities go unchecked. Those plantations and slums were opened by those in power, which can not only limit those who have no rights, but also make their powerless situation permanent. Therefore, the problem of changing slums is the problem of power-the conflict between the power to demand change and the power to maintain the social status quo. A correct understanding of power should be the ability to achieve goals. It means the power needed to trigger social, political and economic changes. Walter Luther once defined power. He said: "Power means that a trade union like the United Auto Workers (U.A.W) has the ability to make the most powerful company in the world say" yes "when it wants to say" no ". This is power. "
Many of us are missionaries, and we all have our own moral beliefs and concerns, so they often conflict with power. If used properly, there is no problem with power. The problem is that some of our philosophers misinterpreted it. A big problem in history is that the concepts of love and power are often opposite-they are regarded as the opposite of polarization-as a result, love is considered to give up power, while right means giving up love.
It is this misinterpretation that makes Nietzsche, a philosopher who studies the will to power, reject the Christian view of love. It is this misinterpretation that induces Christian theologians to reject Nietzsche's philosophy of will to power in the name of Christian love. Now we must correct this misunderstanding. We need to realize that power without love is unrestrained and easy to be abused, while love without power is sentimental and powerless. The ideal power is the love needed to realize justice, and the ideal justice is the power to correct any obstacle to love. This is what we must understand when we move into the future. Facts show that we misunderstand and confuse this in our own country, which leads African Americans to try to achieve their goals with power, without love and conscience.
This has led some extremists to argue today that blacks should seek to seize the destructive and unreasonable power they once hated from whites. The conflict between evil forces and powerless morality constitutes the main crisis of our time.
Make a plan?
We must make plans to promote our country to achieve a guaranteed annual income. At the beginning of this century, this proposal may be ridiculed and condemned for its lack of initiative and responsibility. At that time, social and economic status was regarded as a standard to measure a person's ability and talent. Moreover, according to the standards at that time, no property shows that individuals lack the habit and morality of hard work. We have made great progress in understanding human motives and the blind operation of our economic system. Now we know that it is our chaotic economic market operation and the prevalence of discrimination that make people idle, thus making them unemployed against their will for a long time or continuously. Today, I hope that the poor will not be dismissed as before because they are labeled as inferior or incompetent in our consciousness. We must also understand that no matter how fast the economy develops, it is impossible to eliminate all poverty.
This problem shows that the focus of our work must be twofold. We either provide full employment or generate income. In any case, we must do everything possible to make people become consumers. Once they are in such a position, we must pay attention to the fact that their personal potential is not wasted. We should explore new forms of work beneficial to society for those who can't find traditional jobs. 1879, henry george foresaw this form in his book progress and poverty:
In fact, people don't make a living by improving human condition, spreading knowledge, strengthening strength, enriching literary wealth and sublimating ideas. This is not the same as slaves being forced to work. Slaves are forced to work by the task itself or the foreman, or by animal instinct. This new human work can bring a sense of security to life and create a social form to eliminate want.
If we can increase this kind of work on a large scale, we may find that if we put housing and education issues after poverty eradication, they will also improve with poverty eradication. The poor who turn into property buyers will rely on their own strength to greatly improve their poor housing conditions. With extra money as a weapon, the anti-discrimination struggle of blacks who have suffered from double suffering will have greater results.
In addition, extensive economic security will inevitably bring many positive psychological changes. When a person's destiny is in his own hands and there are channels for self-improvement, his dignity will reach its peak. When a person's value is no longer unfairly measured by the balance of money, the conflict between husband and wife and children will be reduced.
Our country has the ability to do this. John? Kenneth. Galbraith said that about $20 billion a year can achieve a guaranteed annual income. Today, I want to tell you that if our country can spend 35 billion dollars a year to wage an unjust and evil war in Vietnam and 20 billion dollars to send people to the moon, then it can spend billions of dollars to help God's children stand on their own feet in this world.
Committed to nonviolence
Now, let me simply say that we must reaffirm our commitment to non-violence. I want to emphasize this point. All the recent black riots have sadly shown that violence is futile in the struggle for racial equality. Yesterday I tried to analyze these riots and their causes. Today I want to show the other side. It is true that riots are always sad and painful. People can see screaming young people and angry adults desperately and blindly fighting insurmountable difficulties. However, in their hearts, they can see the desire of self-destruction, a desire to die from this world.
Sometimes blacks think that the Watt riots in 1965 and the riots in other cities represent effective human rights actions. However, when asked what concrete benefits these riots have finally achieved, people who hold this view are hesitant and unable to respond. At best, those riots got a small amount of extra poverty alleviation funds from frightened government officials and several water spraying facilities to cool the children in slums. It's like improving prison food for people who are still in prison. No riot can win real improvement like organized protests. When trying to ask advocates of violence to explain what is the most effective way, the answer is always obviously illogical. Sometimes they talk about governments and local governments that subvert racial discrimination and guerrilla warfare. They don't understand that unless the government loses its support and effective control over the armed forces, no internal revolution can successfully overthrow the government through violence. Any rational person knows that this kind of thing will never happen in America. When faced with racial violence, the authorities can dominate the local police, state police, national guard and even the army-all these armed forces are mostly composed of whites. In addition, unless those who advocate violence get the sympathy and support of most people who don't resist, violent revolutions rarely or hardly succeed. Although Castro may have some Cubans fighting alongside him in the mountains, he would never have succeeded in overthrowing Batista's regime without the sympathy of the overwhelming majority of Cuban people.
Obviously, the violent revolution of black Americans will not get the sympathy and support of white people or even most black people. Now is not the time for romantic fantasies and empty philosophical debates about freedom. Now is the time to act. What we need is a strategy to seek change, a wonderful plan to integrate black people into mainstream American life as soon as possible. So far, only the non-violent movement has provided the possibility for this. If we can't understand this, all we have are solutions, answers and explanations that can't be solved, answered or explained.
So, today I want to tell you that I still adhere to the principle of non-violence. And I still firmly believe that it is the most effective weapon for black people in this country to fight for justice. Besides, I look forward to a better world. I expect justice. I look forward to brotherhood. I expect the truth. When a person has such expectations, he will never advocate violence. Because violence may get rid of a murderer, but it can't eliminate murder. Violence may get rid of a liar, but it cannot create truth. Violence may get rid of an enemy, but it cannot eliminate hatred. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can drive out darkness.
I also want to tell you that I have decided to continue to focus on love. Because I know that love is the only answer to the ultimate solution to human problems. So, I talk about this topic everywhere I go. I know this is an unpopular topic in some circles today. When I say love, I don't mean emotional entanglements. When I say love, it is a strong and demanding love. Because I see too much hatred. I see too much hatred in the face of the southern sheriff. I saw hatred in the faces of so many Klan members and southern white citizen congressmen, and I began to hate myself. Because every time I see it, I know it has an influence on their faces and personalities. I will say to myself that hatred is an unbearable burden. So I decided to base it on love. If you are looking for the highest level of virtue, I think you can find it in love. Amazingly, when we do this, we stay away from evil, because John is right and God is love. Those who hate don't know God, but those who love have the key to open the door to reality.
Before I finish this speech, I want to tell you that when we talk about "where are we going?" We should sincerely face the fact that this movement must solve the problem of rebuilding the whole American society. We have 40 million poor people. One day we must ask this question: "Why are there 40 million poor people in America?" When you start asking this question, you are questioning the economic system and the wider distribution of wealth. When you ask this question, you begin to question the capitalist economy. I mean, the more you ask, the more you will ask the whole society. We have the responsibility to help those frustrated people who become beggars in the life market. But we will eventually realize that a beggar-making society needs to be rebuilt. This means that it must be questioned. My friends, when you do this, you begin to question "Who owns oil?" You begin to question "Who owns iron ore?" You begin to question, "Why do people have to pay for water in a world where two-thirds is covered by water?" These are all questions that must be questioned.
About capitalism.
Don't think you have something on me today. I'm not talking about materialism.
What I want to tell you this morning is that capitalism has forgotten that life is personal. Capitalism has forgotten that life is a community. The Kingdom of Brothers is not based on the argument of productism, nor on the opposite of capitalism, but on a higher synthesis. It is based on a higher combination of two truths. When I say that I want to question the whole society, I mean that I can finally understand that racial discrimination, economic exploitation and war are inseparable. They are interrelated triple evils.
Please allow me to be a missionary here-one night, a juror came to see Jesus. He wants to know what he should do to be saved. Jesus didn't advise him not to do anything in an isolated way. Jesus didn't say, "Nicodemus, you must stop lying." He didn't say, "Nicodemus, if you steal, you must correct it at once." He didn't say, "Nicodemus, you can't commit adultery." He didn't say, "Nicodemus, if you drink too much, you must stop at once." His answer is very different, because Jesus knows the essence of things-if people lie, they will steal. If he steals, he will kill. Therefore, Jesus did not confine himself to one thing, but looked at him and said, "Nicodemus, you must be born again."
In other words, he said, "You must completely change the whole framework." A country that has enslaved its citizens for 244 years will "objectify" its people-treat them as things. Therefore, they and all the poor will be economically exploited. A country that is engaged in economic exploitation needs military force to protect its own interests because it wants to invest abroad and do other activities to steal other people's things. These problems are inseparable. What I want to say today is that when we leave this party, we must say, "America, you must be reborn!" " "
final result
So, I finally reiterate our task today, let's start fighting with "sacred expectations". Let's hope that there will be no more hypertension in faith and anemia in action in America. Let's hope that the wall of tragedy that separates the rich and comfortable people outside the city from the poor and desperate people in the city will be destroyed by the power of the battering ram of justice. Let's expect those people who live in the land of hope to return to the metropolis with a sense of daily security. Let's expect slums to be thrown into the garbage dump of history, and every family can have a decent home and sanitary facilities. Let's hope that the dark yesterday of schools that suffered from apartheid will be replaced by the bright tomorrow of quality education that abolished apartheid. Let's hope that racial integration is no longer regarded as a problem, but an opportunity to participate in creating the charm of diverse life. Let's hope that black men and women will be measured by their personality, not by their skin color. Let's look forward to it. Let's hope that every state capital has an upright, compassionate, humble governor who walks with God. Let's expect to see fairness like a flood and justice like a river in all municipal governments. Let's look forward to the day when the lion and the lamb lie together and all the people sit under their vines and fig trees. They are no longer afraid. Let's look forward to it. Humans will understand that God created all people with the same blood and made them live on the surface of the earth. Let's look forward to the day when no one clamors for "black power"! -and all people will talk about the power of God and the power of mankind.
I must admit, my friends, the road ahead will not always be smooth. Stones everywhere will bring frustration, and twists and turns will confuse people. There will be inevitable obstacles everywhere. Sometimes we fall from the peak of hope to the bottom of despair. Our dreams sometimes break; Dim hopes are sometimes dashed. We may once again stand in front of the coffin of a brave human rights activist, our eyes blurred, mourning that the bloodthirsty mob took his life cruelly. No matter how difficult it is, no matter how painful it is, we must move forward in the future with fearless faith. When we continue our established journey, we can get comfort from the poems of the great freedom fighter and black poet james weldon johnson:
Step on the thorn road
Be whipped.
When hopes are dashed.
Still groping forward.
Take firm steps
Even if your feet are tired.
Still coming.
Where our ancestors sighed.
We've come a long way.
A road full of tears.
We struggled to set foot on
A road full of martyrs' blood.
Out of the dark's past,
So far, we have finally stood up.
Because of our bright stars.
In the bright Weixi cabin.
Let this belief be our battle cry. It will give us courage to face the unforeseeable future. It will give new strength to our tired feet and continue our journey towards the city of freedom. When the clouds of despair are overcast, our days become gloomy and hopeless. When our night becomes darker than 1000 midnight, let us remember that there is a kind of creativity in the universe that can break the huge mountain of evil, and there is a kind of power that can open up new roads in desperate places and turn dark yesterday into brilliant tomorrow. Let's remember that the moral sky is very long, but it will eventually fall on the right side.
Let us remember william cullen bryant's famous saying: "The overwhelming truth will eventually stand up." Let us remember the truth in the bible, "don't deceive yourself, God can't be scorned;" What is a race and what is a harvest. "This is our hope for the future. With this belief, we will sing "We won, we won" in the past tense of the universe in the near future. In my heart, I firmly believe that we will win. "