Brother Salim Kujitawala: THE OTHER SIDE OF KING
Friday, January 14, 2005 at 05:40PM
TheSpook
By Brother Salim Kujitawala
Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., a frontline freedom fighter in the
fight to uplift the Black community. He is often quoted,
referenced to and honored, but was he ever understood? Many
people will remember Dr. King for his position on non-violence and his
speech “I Have a Dream.” However, contradictions in White
America’s treatment towards Blacks, which were exposed by the “Black
Power Movement”, fashioned another side of King, a side that
accelerated Dr. King’s inevitable assassination.
In Dr. King’s book “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community”, he
wrote, “Black Power, in its broad and positive meaning, is a call to
Black people to amass the political and economic strength to achieve
their legitimate goals. No one can deny that the negro is in dire need
of this kind of legitimate power.”
Dr. King also wrote, “Black Power is also a call for the pooling of
Black financial resources to achieve economic security….Through the
pooling of such resources and the development of habits of thrift and
techniques of wise investments, the negro will be doing his share to
grapple with his problem of economic deprivation. If Black Power
means the development of this kind of strength within the negro
community, then it is a quest for basic, necessary, legitimate power.”
It is important to note, these ideas that Dr. King had on Black
politics and economics, are the same positions that Malcolm X
communicated in his definition on the political and economic aspects of
Black Nationalism. The reason this is important is the F.B.I. felt it
would be necessary to eliminate Dr. King if he was to use Black
Nationalist tactics. This can be seen through the Counter
Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) of the F.B.I.
COINTELPRO was and still is, a program designed to neutralize, disrupt
and dismantle black organizations. On March 4th, 1968 the F.B.I
released a classified document that stated:
"Prevent the rise of a "Messiah" who could unify and electrify the
militant Black Nationalist movement. Malcolm X might have been
such a "messiah," he is the martyr of the movement today. Martin
Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and Elijah Muhammad all aspire to this
position. Elijah Muhammad is less of a threat because of his
age. King could be a real contender for this position should he
abandon his supposed "obedience" to "white, liberal doctrines"
(nonviolence) and embrace Black Nationalism.”
On April 3rd, 1968 in Memphis Tennessee, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. gave the speech that is now known as "I've Been to the Mountain
Top." In his speech stated:
And
our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you. And so, as
a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your
neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to
buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy—what is the other bread?—Wonder
Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy
Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage
men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain.
We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their
hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the
process of saying, they are going to support the needs and the rights
of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on downtown and
tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right. But not only that, we've got to
strengthen black institutions.
I
call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit
your money in Tri-State Bank—we want a "bank-in" movement in Memphis.
So go by the savings and loan association. I'm not asking you something
we don't do ourselves at SCLC. Judge Hooks and others will tell you
that we have an account here in the savings and loan association from
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. We're just telling you to
follow what we're doing. Put your money there. You have six or seven
black insurance companies in Memphis. Take out your insurance there. We
want to have an "insurance-in. Now these are some practical
things we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic
base. And at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really
hurts. I ask you to follow through here."
This would become Kings last speech. The very next day, April 4th
which was exactly one month to the day after the COINTELPRO memo was
released; Dr. King became a victim of American terrorism against Black
people. He was shot in the neck by a white supremacist sniper
under the direction of the United States Government. Why? As
one can see, according to Dr. King’s last speech and his writings
another side of Dr. King was developing. A side that began to embrace
Black Nationalist tactics and strategies, as a means to achieve
freedom, justice and equality for Black people.
FORWARD EVER
FREEDOM OR DEATH
Brother Salim Kujitawala
C/O Akoben
P.O. Box 860133
Wahiawa Hawaii 96786
(808) 478 - 6895
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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