MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY

Jackson disputes book on rights era

By John Chase, Tribune staff reporter. The Associated Press contributed to this report
Published January 17, 2006


On the day commemorating Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 77th birthday, Rev. Jesse Jackson on Monday disputed claims in a new book about King's life that the slain civil rights leader accused Jackson of trying to use the civil rights movement to promote himself.

After a breakfast in Chicago held every year in King's honor by Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Jackson said King and his colleagues in the movement often argued about strategy but that after those meetings everyone had reached a consensus.

"We often had challenging meetings. And that was what we did," Jackson said. "But in the end, we left there together."

Historian Taylor Branch wrote in his latest book about the movement, "At Canaan's Edge," that during one of these heated arguments, King accused Jackson of using the movement to promote himself.

"No," Jackson said, later describing a heated meeting in the days before King was struck down by a sniper's bullet. "... We did not sit down and listen to dictates. You had democratic debates."

Jackson pointed to the famous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech King gave in Memphis the night before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in which he specifically mentioned Jackson's name.

In the speech supporting striking sanitation workers, King encouraged those in attendance to boycott several companies, including Coca-Cola, because King felt those companies at the time were not being fair in their hiring policies.

"As Jesse Jackson has said," King said during the speech, "up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must redistribute the pain."

"It was a strategic discussion. And this is five minutes after the meeting Branch refers to. And if what he said is true, this wouldn't be here," Jackson said Monday. "That paragraph speaks for itself."

Jackson said he has "high regard" for Branch, but that Branch never interviewed him for the book.

Jackson's comments came at PUSH's 16th annual breakfast at the Chicago Hilton & Towers honoring King. Politicians spoke at the event, including U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Mayor Richard M. Daley, who encouraged the audience of about 2,000 to do what they can to keep alive King's dream of an equal society regardless of race.

Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
[excerpt]

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This excerpt, drawn from the last chapter of biographer Taylor Branch's new book, begins with King and Ralph David Abernathy at the Lorraine Motel. It is April 3, 1968, and King is disappointed in the turnout at Mason Temple, where he was to speak that night.

[Excerpted from "At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-1968," by Taylor Branch. Copyright © 2006, Taylor Branch. Reproduced by permission of Simon & Schuster, New York.]


Phone calls from the Lorraine to [James] Lawson in Mason Temple verified that the crowd indeed was thin — perhaps fewer than 2,000 in the huge hall that had packed seven times that many for King's visit on March 18. He feared the sharp dropoff would invite belittling stories of a downward trend for him. . . .

"Ralph," said King, "I want you to go speak for me tonight."

Abernathy balked, and suggested sending Jesse Jackson, but King insisted. He was still testy about Jackson from Atlanta. [King had become angry with Jackson, Andrew Young and James Bevel a few days before and had yelled at Jackson: "If you're so interested in doing your own thing that you can't do what this organization's structured to do, if you want to carve out your own niche in society, go ahead. But for God's sake, don't bother me!"]

Abernathy asked if he could take Jackson along. "Yes," said King, "but you do the speaking."

Song leaders and speakers filled the time in Mason Temple while Abernathy drove through the rain. Lawson . . . rallied spirits, and murmurs of anticipation ran through the hall when Abernathy, Jackson, and Young were sighted — only to hush when King's absence registered. For Abernathy, a keen reader of crowds, the palpable disappointment was worse than he feared. He went to a vestibule telephone instead of the podium and marshaled enticements for King — mentioning news cameras, the big spray of microphones, and Lawson's point that the movement seldom gathered so many people in the South.

Most of all, Abernathy told King this was a core crowd of sanitation workers who had braved a night of hell-fire to hear him, and they would feel cut off from a lifeline if he let them down. When King gave in, Abernathy pressed for assurance. "Don't fool me now," he said, and King promised to hurry.

[The soaring conclusion to King's speech.]

He frowned. "And some began to say the threats — or talk about the threats — that were out, what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers. Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now." King paused. "Because I've been to the mountaintop," he declared in a trembling voice. Cheers and applause erupted. Some people jerked involuntarily to their feet, and others rose slowly like a choir.

"And I don't mind," he said, trailing off beneath the second and third waves of response. "Like anybody I would like to live — a long life — longevity has its place." The whole building suddenly hushed, which let sounds of thunder and rain fall from the roof. "But I'm not concerned about that now," said King. "I just want to do God's will." There was a subdued call of "Yes!" in the crowd. "And he's allowed me to go up the mountain," King cried, building intensity. "And I've looked over. And I have s-e-e-e-e-e-n, the Promised Land."

His voice searched a long peak over the word "seen," then hesitated and landed with quick relief on "the promised land," as though discovering a friend. He stared out over the microphones with brimming eyes and the trace of a smile. "And I may not get there with you," he shouted, "but I want you to know, tonight ["Yes!"] that we as a people will get to the Promised Land!"

'I'm not worried about anything'

He stared again over the claps and cries, while the preachers closed toward him from behind. "So I'm happy tonight!" rushed King. "I'm not worried about anything! I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glo-ry of the coming of the Lord!"

[excerpts]

Posted by Bob Schwartz