[Dialogue] [Oe List ...] Fw: Martin Luther King and LBJ by Bill Moyers

[Patricia Tuecke]

Thanks, Roger,

For reminding us with these powerful and moving facts, statements,
decisions, and actions. Lest we forget.

 

Today, was a great day in Nevada. People came out in droves to caucus,
Democrats and Republicans alike to participate in the grass roots level of
selecting candidates. Dan & I were on our precinct leadership team. The
Nevada Democrats' caucus process is very transparent and open - and fun,
too. Our caucus was held in a Reno High School Gym, along with two other
precincts. Precinct 1006 ended up with Obama, Clinton, and Edwards each
having one delegate to the county convention. I'm an alternate delegate to
the county convention next month.

 

Pat 

 

Patricia R. Tuecke, Sierra Circle Consulting

Facilitating Strategic Decisions!

775-333-6998   ptuecke at charter.net

 

From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
Of Roger Alexander
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 2:29 PM
To: ICA dialogue; OE at wedgeblade.net
Subject: [Oe List ...] Fw: Martin Luther King and LBJ by Bill Moyers

 

    Martin Luther King and LBJ 
    By Bill Moyers 
    Bill Moyers Journal 

    Friday 18 January 2008

The following is a transcript from Bill Moyers Journal.

    Bill Moyers: If William Shakespeare were around I suspect he might
describe the recent flap between the Obama and Clinton camps as much ado
about nothing or a tempest in a teapot. Senator Clinton was heard to say
that it took a president - Lyndon Johnson - to consummate the work of Martin
Luther King by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Almost no one in the
media bothered to run the whole quote. Here it is: 

    Hillary Clinton: Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President
Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get
through Congress something that President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the
president before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it
done." 

    Bill Moyers: There was nothing in that quote about race. It was an
historical fact, an affirmation of the obvious. But critics pounced. THE NEW
YORK TIMES published a lead editorial accusing Senator Clinton of "the
distasteful implication that a black man needed the help of a white man to
effect change." Suddenly we had a rhetorical inferno on our hands, with
charges flying left and right, and pundits throwing gasoline on the tiniest
of embers. Fortunately the furor has quieted down, and everyone's said
they're sorry, except THE NEW YORK TIMES. But I can't resist this footnote
to the story. 

    Many, many years ago, I was a young White House Assistant, when
President Johnson at first wanted Martin Luther King to call off the
marching, demonstrations, and protests. The civil rights movement had met
massive resistance in the South, and the South, because of the seniority
system, controlled Congress, making it virtually impossible for Congress to
enact laws giving full citizenship to black Americans, no matter how
desperate their lives. LBJ worried that the mounting demonstrations were
hardening white resistance. 

    He had been the master of the Senate, the great persuader, who could
twist your arm with such flair and flattery you thought he was actually
doing you a favor by wrenching it from its socket. He reckoned that with a
little time he could twist enough arms in Congress to end, or neutralize,
the power of die-hard racists - all of them, including some of his old
mentors, white supremacists who threatened to bring the government, if not
the country, to its knees before they would see blacks eat at the same
restaurants, go to the same schools, drink from the same fountains, and live
in the same neighborhoods as whites. 

    As the pressure intensified on each side, Johnson wanted King to wait a
little longer and give him a chance to bring Congress around by hook or
crook. But Martin Luther King said his people had already waited too long.
He talked about the murders and lynchings, the churches set on fire,
children brutalized, the law defied, men and women humiliated, their lives
exhausted, their hearts broken. LBJ listened, as intently as I ever saw him
listen. He listened, and then he put his hand on Martin Luther King's
shoulder, and said, in effect: "OK. You go out there Dr. King and keep doing
what you're doing, and make it possible for me to do the right thing."
Lyndon Johnson was no racist but he had not been a civil rights hero,
either. Now, as president, he came down on the side of civil disobedience,
believing it might quicken America's conscience until the cry for justice
became irresistible, enabling him to turn Congress. So King marched and
Johnson maneuvered and Congress folded. 

    News Coverage: President Johnson calls for all Americans to back what he
calls a turning point in history. 

    Bill Moyers: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public
places. 

    Marchers: "We shall overcome ..." 

    Bill Moyers: But they weren't done. King kept on marching, this time for
the right to vote, and once again Johnson kept his word, and did the right
thing. As one of his young assistants, I stood on the floor of the House
that Ides of March when morality and politics converged, and watched the
faces of Congress transfixed ... mesmerized ... knowing they were riding the
surf of history as the president of the United States enlisted all of us in
the cause. 

    Lyndon Johnson: It's all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy
of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome. 

    Bill Moyers: As he finished, Congress stood and thunderous applause
shook the chamber. Johnson would soon sign into law the Voting Rights Act of
1965 and black people were no longer second class citizens. Martin Luther
King had marched and preached and witnessed for this day. Countless ordinary
people had put their bodies on the line for it, been berated, bullied and
beaten, only to rise, organize and struggle on, against the dogs and guns,
the bias and burning crosses. Take nothing from them; their courage is their
legacy. But take nothing from the president who once had seen the light but
dimly, as through a dark glass - and now did the right thing. Lyndon Johnson
threw the full weight of his office on the side of justice. Of course the
movement had come first, watered by the blood of so many, championed bravely
now by the preacher turned prophet who would himself soon be martyred. But
there is no inevitability to history, someone has to seize and turn it. With
these words at the right moment - "we shall overcome" - Lyndon Johnson
transcended race and color, and history, too - reminding us that a president
matters, and so do we. 

 

Roger Alexander
5809 Meadowcrest
Bartlesville, OK 74006
918-333-5299
ralexan934 at sbcglobal.net

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