The Struggle for Struggle
Malcolm X's criticisms of Martin Luther King expressed a lack of confidence and distaste for King's idealistic non-violence. A surface level study of the views of both leaders has often created the dichotomy between the idealistic non-violent King and the revolutionary cynic Malcolm. In a speech
he delivered a month before his death entitled Unfulfilled Dreams, we come to
see how King may have been aware of the short-comings of the civil rights
movement. I argue that through a thorough investigation of King’s aforementioned speech,
we can offer a portrayal of King that reveals how he was not a naively optimistic idealist
but a leader acutely aware of the worsening conditions of and growing challenges to his community that had the potential to wreck the black spirit.
King discusses in his speech the 8th chapter from
“First Kings” in the Old Testament wherein the efforts of King David in building
a temple are referred to. The building of the temple is considered “the most significant”
endeavor for the Hebrew people and King David is expected to do it. King refers
to the passage wherein God says to David “Whereas it was in thine heart to
build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was within thine heart”. King
emphasizes how it is the David’s continued effort, his belief in his endeavor,
and his devotion that earns him the blessing of God. There is no doubt that
King here was expressing a great melancholy, if not outright lamenting, the
shortcomings of the civil rights movement. He states that we all “start out
building temples….of justice, temples of peace”
and yet we face as David did the immutable fact that our dreams are unfulfilled.
King takes solace in the belief that despite the efforts not bearing fruit, it
is ultimately noble that one continue to try. Lastly and perhaps most importantly,
King describes how “ The agonies and the anguishes of life are coming….In times like
these, you need an anchor”.
King is not proselytizing nor is he performing and his
references to his own experiences with dismal and trying times are not
coincidental. It is his effort to prepare and empower the psyche of his people
for what he must have known would be a struggle, a struggle not to advance the
cause of the black community but a struggle rather to continue the struggle itself.
This is apparent when King says how “in every one of us this morning, there’s a
war going on” wherein “every time you set out to be good, there’s something
pulling on you, telling you to be evil.” King refers to this internal dichotomy
as it is featured in the works of Augustine and Goethe to illustrate how the
internal struggle must be recognized. But for King this cannot have been an
abstract concept nor even advice for the edification of his fellow Christians.
It was thinly veiled admission that the liberal bourgeoisie’s co-opting of the
civil rights movement under Kennedy, the establishment’s (i.e FBI) dedication
to surveilling and sabotaging civil rights leaders, the empowerment of the
reactionary conservatives both politically and economically, and the challenges
in developing a discourse on the black problem that forces the white populace
to confront itself, are among the many facets of the political reality in the
United States that the civil rights movement was unable to totally, if at all, disrupt
in any meaningful way and yet black people cannot given into the “evil” and
cannot give into hate. To invert Malcolm X’s famous phrase , Reverend King was
not duped by anyone but could have been even more far sighted and pragmatic
than even Malcolm X. This speech demonstrates that King understood that
struggle is the only condition for the black community and it is only within
struggle, rather than acquiescence or reactionary rebellion, that they can
maintain their pride, their identity and their existence.
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