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Murphy Martin Commentary
January 24, 2008

"Remembering Dr. King"

(This is a reprint of the January 2006 commentary)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been 77-years old last Sunday. Dr. King was only the second American whose birthday is observed as a national holiday. The first was George Washington, our nation's first president. Dr. King earned that recognition as the main civil rights leader in the 1950s and 1960s. I spent a good deal of time with him in the '60s as a correspondent for ABC-TV News.

Dr. King was wonderful with words, particularly when those words were about the call for social justice for African Americans. King's pleas gained the support of millions of people, black and white, and earned him international respect including the Nobel Prize For Peace!

I first met Dr. King as he was leading efforts to integrate the previously all-white beaches in St. Augustine, Florida. As usual the Ku Klux Klan was trying to dissuade those trying to make this happen. In his news conferences and also when he led the marchers on the beach Dr. King spoke of "non-violent" ways this should be done. The Klan spokesmen for the most part was one Hoss Manucy who uttered vile threats filled with the "n" word and what would happen to those who tried to use "our white beaches". The prolonged efforts to thwart Dr. King's efforts failed as Manucy's threats aimed at Dr. King and "white -----Yankee newsmen" could not deter the non-violent efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Wherever he traveled, he asked a series of "How long" questions--"How long will justice be crucified and buried? Not long." he would say . Then several more "how long", questions about injustices toward African Americans --a pause--then his reverberating "NOT LONG" drew verbal echoes from his audiences.

While the Klan used one tactic (threats) to manipulate the media, they paled next to the master, Dr. King. Articulate, knowledgeable, and never at a loss for words, he had a built-in clock in his brain that told him how much he could say to make a network sound-bite. And he knew which reporters and cameramen were with which network. Never underestimate the power of knowing who's who.

Case in point:

Twenty-six year old civil rights worker Jimmie Lee Jackson was murdered during a voters' rights registration in Marion, Alabama on February 26, 1965. Following his death, and prior to his funeral on March 3,1965, an emotional rally was held in a small church in Selma, where approximately 300 people crammed into the sanctuary built for 200 and another 250 folks gathered outside. It took me several minutes to make my way through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd to place my ABC microphone on the lectern, then I sat on the floor along with dozens of other news people, my trusty tape recorder ready and a clear line of sight to my cameraman.

Dr. King and Dr. Ralph Abernathy sat behind the speaker's stand while a young man led the congregation in singing the civil-rights anthem, "We Shall Overcome." Voices filled that tiny church, very moving in their earnestness. After several verses, Dr. King leaned over to the song-leader and said, "We'll start after you sing one more chorus."

Just then, a cameraman pushed his way through the throng of people, fighting down the aisle to the front, camera in tow. Never missing a beat, Dr. King leaned forward to the young song-leader again and said. "Just keep singing until CBS gets set up." They did and Dr. King spoke to a much larger audience with all networks once again covering his eloquent remarks.

Among my many assignments to cover Dr. King was the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march. I filed numerous stories covering that march and when it concluded in front of the Alabama state capitol on March 25, 1965, I anchored the live network coverage for ABC-TV.

A veritable Who's Who walked to the microphones before more than 35,000 marchers. Andrew Young, Dr. Abernathy, Hosea Williams, Dr. Ralph Bunche, A. Phillip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, John Lewis, and Whitney Young.

Then came the crown jewel of the movement: Dr. King, who slowly and methodically moved the crowd to a fevered pitch. You could almost feel the tension ratchet up with each carefully chosen word. The crowd shouted its "amens" to the message he preached. I sensed a potential for violence, merely awaiting its invitation. I am convinced to this day, had Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted that crowd to storm the capitol, all he would have had to say was "take it" and the battle would have been joined with the Alabama State Police who completely encircled the capitol at five-yard intervals, batons at the ready.

But that would not have been Dr. King's style. Instead, just as intently as he had built the crowd to crescendo levels, he used soft and deliberate tones to moderate the crowd from its high emotional state. As the throng hushed, leaning forward to hear every word, he challenged them to reach new heights, but through non-violent means. He called for constructive, not destructive efforts as they moved toward their quest for justice and equality.

Dr. King blazed the trail for righting many wrongs regarding racial equality in America. He has been gone forty-years. He was only thirty-nine when the assassin's bullit snuffed out his life in Memphis. He has to be smiling as he looks down and sees so much of his "I Have A Dream" speech before 200,000 in Washington in 1963 becoming reality. He is missed!


Murphy Martin

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e-mail   murphy@murphymartin.com

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