Black Panther Party of Northern California - Freedom Archives

DR, MAFtTi1V LUTHER K°ING (continued)
the victim
~on
of an attack, my
father " s request, he showed me that
wound, hardly closeds "fhe pxine "
~~ explained,""that we, the Blackaa
ale paying ,for our ].ibeza~ior~, ,r
~Iaxtin ~;uther King t s canc~eznnation
t~:death was announced lahg,before
A,p~il 4, 1968, and even beforre the
c~~~th oi~ l+ialcolm X, whc~, waiting a
few days before his own as~assina-~
said : "My vgice is` only a,
~aice among others : But acir goal
~a~ alwa~rs°been the 'e~me :~ Certain-
~yi ~Y mathods are~rad3cally opposee;d
to those of Dr : King, the apostle
of non-violence, a' doctrine
that h~,s the advantage of pa~.nt ng
up the brutality, of whites towafds_'
Tacks,, But in the' atmc~sphex'e that
xeigns present7.~ in America, x aiek
myse~,f which of these -,TWO extremists
: the 'violent' Malcolm .X or
the ',non-violent,' ; .Dr t ~ Kinq wall .l be
dead first?
,.Todayy ~Stokely ,Carmichael, Rap
gxown~' °~u~ '
Neraton, at~d the numer
ous Blacl~"'leadexs Who advocate self
defense here ,taken up th~2.se p~ap~het
e . words and applied them to themaselves,
. - S:?,nce` they grey ready-made
targets the logic bf,t,h,a system
cc~nc~emns just as we].3~" . thef as the
,. ~~.x~nacence (and ignarai~c~,~r o:E :aagM;, :`
v~:alenCe . The ° dresem of , Martin .Lug
ther K3rsg~ did not 't3ie, . as" ,7ol~nsan
said, "with him," but ratter befare~ `
him, az~d it was ;just `this ' (the
death ,,of'iiis drr~a~m) that 1c~hed' the,`
man . . "Bettiveen~ Augu~ct 1963 ; and April
1:968 i between a "Mach of ~'ashington"
"tha'C ogk place and ; a '
."Niaxch
an . Was~fng~,^ahR' 'that was ` to take '
Qlace f ve ., :ai.~pbztant ~r~azs :
' wexe
p a~tod ©ut . : ~ Five- y,eaxs that marked
the- t~xa~3c ire»erary of a 131ae1s who
~,n ~h3s de~p~xa' efforts to sksr~,nk
'the' gad that ~tubbmrnly grows. betwean
the ghettQS anc~ the white ~ower
used himself up . The slow check'
gradual,' often 3mgerceptible, the
wall of despair .
Fizst "conxroritat.iani the dQ
nunciation by Malcolm X and the dis
nherited of the ghetto, and the
political and financial mishandling
of the Washington march .fib 1963 hY'
.
Dr . Kir:g aid, ;pthe
leader . Then M
after ~hi death b
leader,s~ denounce
ally'aut of date"
violence by ,raisi;n
the war~~:n Vietnam
King ab~igsd to~ r
sistance' of the
organiza~¢,ioi~ . ' '"I
,
ix~~tegrat3onist
lcolm, followed
numerous J3lack
the "historicaracter
of non-,
the gttestiotz of
Martin Luthe
spond to the in "
outh of : his ownhave
gone among
the young ,who ar des~era~e, rejected,~
`-send , ~,angx,
~ .he admitted .
"I , toted " them " ,tha ,guns, , Would 'not
salvr~ their ,px,o}a~.e s,., hec,~,u,se I was
con~iinced ~ -~Ghat . so ial ,cha~nge . eou~d
;nevex be ~ ~ceally
through~-nvn " viol
aGhieued ; c~xcep
nce, . .taut ~
asked me ,q " ar~d " they
-so : + and " ~lieth~m? 1
+cruehed " sne~ ~ and " I .
never again raise
viol~ncei~ of~ those
in the ~ghet~tb~s~ i:tius
king aut ;,, in no` ai
gai~ns't the greaf
(continued on
they 1
.
were ;fight to do
Their questifans
new' that I dot~ld
my .. va3.ce, ac~ai~st
ha . aace~ eppxe~sed~
hoot, first apes ;
ier`~ain terms,
t inetigat
a-
age 24)