DEMOCRACY WATCH
As anti-police-violence protesters at the Flossmoor community meeting last fall shouted out, challenging and interrupting the forum’s moderators, a woman seated next to me confided that she was sympathetic to their cause, “but they are going about it the wrong way.”
Tomorrow we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose dream of racial equity has now been embraced nationwide. It’s probably a good time to remember, too, that the embrace came late, after King had been assassinated. Before then, he was making a lot of people uncomfortable.
One good complement to his oft-cited “I have a Dream” speech is his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” essay. It was regularly included in rhetoric anthologies when I taught college writing back in the 1990s. Maybe it still is. It is a powerful counter to the resistance he was getting from people who professed to be allies.
My seatmate at the Flossmoor forum very nearly quoted from King’s letter, although his version was being held up as an example of white moderate hypocrisy.
King wrote: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action.'”
King wrote the letter in April 1963, four months before the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which he delivered the “Dream” speech. According to polling firm Gallup, 41% of Americans had a positive view of King in 1963. By 1968, his positive rating had fallen to 32%. A CNN story last January noted that King’s popularity, especially among white Americans, took a downward turn as he turned his attention from the overt racism of the South to the slightly less overt racism of the North.
He was making people uncomfortable. King’s imprint on our culture did not come from shouting down his opponents. He engaged in conversation with people who disagreed with him. “Letter” is about 6,900 words of forceful but respectful persuasion, a good model for us to follow today — if we can.
I’m glad we honor and cherish King the inspirational, aspirational leader as represented in the “Dream” speech. It’s also important to remember that he was a disrupter of comfort in the quest for justice. That’s an important part of his legacy and needs equal time as we celebrate his life each year.
THE WEEK >
Flossmoor Board of Trustees will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, in the board room at village hall, 2800 Flossmoor Road.
- Find the agenda here.
- Attend the meeting virtually here. Use ID 847 3427 5176, passcode 60422, or join by phone at 312-626-6799.
Homewood-Flossmoor District 233 Board of Education will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, in the South Building Performing Arts Center, 999 Kedzie Ave. in Flossmoor.
- Find the agenda here.
Homewood-Flossmoor Park District Board of Commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the Goldberg Center, 3301 Flossmoor Road, Flossmoor.
- Find the agenda here.
Homewood Public Library Board of Trustees will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, at the library, 17917 Dixie Highway.
- Find the agenda here.
< THE WEEK
Shooting death
Homewood police and the South Suburban Major Case Squad are investigating a shooting that occurred Friday, Jan. 13, in Homewood. An 18-year-old Aurora man died and an 18-year-old from Merrillville, Indiana, was shot.
Pursuing the Dream
Homewood-Flossmoor High School students and staff created their annual tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 11 with speeches, poetry, dance and song.
BB gun photo sparks investigation
A social media post showing a gun in a Homewood-Flossmoor High School classroom prompted school officials to contact Flossmoor police to investigate. It turned out the photo showed a BB gun. The student responsible was identified and will be disciplined, according to school officials.
One promotion, two retirements at HPD
Homewood trustees honored two retiring members of the police department, Darren Easter and Paul Neitzel, and recognized one officer, Dennis Leaks, on his promotion to sergeant at the board meeting Jan. 10.
Homewood hires assistant village manager
Homewood announced on Jan. 11 that Tyler Hall has been hired as the assistant village manager, a post that has been vacant since June, when Justine Bruno resigned.