| — from Hedrick Smith for ReclaimTheAmericanDream.org — |
| Back in the 1960s, when I was covering Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis and other civil rights activists for The New York Times, I heard die-hard segregationists try to bait him as an “outside agitator” stirring up trouble. “You’re comin’ into our town,” they would bellow, meaning Birmingham or Albany, Georgia or St. Augustine, Florida. “Things were quiet and peaeful. Our people were happy. But you come in here and stir up trouble. You’re agitating our people.” They made it sound criminal – and in fact, several cities arrested Dr. King for “Agitating.” Wondering how he would respond, I would go to the mass meetings organized by his Southern Christian Leadership Conference in black churches all across the Deep South. And inevitably, Dr. King would get around to the racist name-calling. “They call me an agitator,” he would cry out from the pulpit, voice rising to suggest the force and menace intended by his detractors. “Well, they’re right,” he shot back defiantly. “I am an agitator.”Then he’d ask puckishly: “Do you know what an agitator is?” <Read More> |
yes – the times call for this; knock the dirt out of the laundry. He was, and continues to be, an inspiration. Thank you for this article.