Keep The Faith magazine - Britain's leading publication about Black faith

Author Richard Reddie explores the relevance of Martin Luther King in the 21st century, and why the yearning for a British leader of his stature still exists 

There was a time when Black History Month in Britain began and ended with Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Apart from the odd foray into the Transatlantic Slave Trade, October was usually all about the Atlanta-born preacher and his efforts to bring about much needed change in the USA. Unlike the slave trade, which often portrayed Africans as powerless in their enslavement, and dependent on William Wilberforce and his friends for their freedom, the Dr King-led Civil Rights movement displayed clear Black agency. Moreover, the fact that Dr King was an eloquent Christian, who was committed to non-violent resistance, meant that he was perfect Black History Month fodder.

Thankfully, there is more diversity to Black History Month than Dr King. For one, it now has an obvious British dimension, and is not solely dependent on what is happening in America for inspiration. However, I would caution against consigning Dr King to Black History Month’s equivalent of the dustbin, because although he died 43 years ago, he still remains a source of inspiration for those fighting for justice, freedom and human dignity. The ongoing “Arab Spring” uprising in North Africa and in the Middle East is a good case in point. There were shades of the Dr King-led Civil Rights movement in the lead-up to the overthrow of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, as protesters who gathered in Tahrir Square in Cairo sang the old Civil Rights standard, “We Shall Overcome”, albeit with an Arabic accent. Likewise, a protestor in Benghazi, Libya, was seen wielding a placard with the words “I am a Man!” which was reminiscent of Dr King’s last campaign in Memphis, Tennessee on behalf of African-American sanitation workers, where protesters brandished similarly-worded placards. Equally, the 1958 comic book, “The Montgomery Story,” which gives a pictorial representation of Dr King’s leadership of the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama in the mid 1950s, has been translated into Arabic and shared widely around the Middle East.

“It is both fascinating and ironic that Black people … have always clamoured for leaders, who, like a modern-day Moses, will lead them into a modern-day Promised Land.”

Although we largely associate Dr King with the US Civil Rights campaign, his impact knows no geographic boundaries or ethnicities. The Civil Rights leader was also very concerned about the plight of Black Britons, and he visited these shores in December 1963 while on his way to collect his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. Dr King spent an itinerary-filled three days in London, where he preached to a packed St Paul’s Cathedral, and met with Black British activists, who equated his struggle with theirs in the UK. Dr King’s presence in Britain has been credited as the ‘catalyst’ for the emergence of Campaign Against Racial Discrimination, the first genuine race-related campaigning organisation in Britain.

For many years, Black Britons have debated why this country has failed to produce someone of Dr King’s stature, who could speak on behalf of the Black community on a range of socio-economic and religious issues. There is invariably such a clamour after some major event, like this August’s urban disturbances. The media in particular are always keen to speak to those who can articulate the reasons for a particular event or activity, and as we have seen with the recent riots, the difficulty is finding someone who not only has grassroots credentials, but can also speak about emotive issues in a measured, conciliatory way.

In the USA, Dr King, who was the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), was often wheeled out by the media and the authorities to provide a range of answers to the “Negro” problem. He was particularly in demand after the Watts riots in Los Angeles in 1964. (From 1964 to 1968, there were 239 major riots in over 200 US cities.) In the aftermath of such disturbances, Dr King was routinely called upon to both condemn the obvious lawlessness, but also to explicate the social reasons for the revolts. Dr King, like all such spokespeople, struggled to maintain the ‘Janus’ approach, where one head looked towards the community, while the other faced the authorities and media. He was often denounced as an Uncle Tom or ‘sell-out’ for not explaining the social reasons for riots, such as those in Rochester (New York) in July 1964. Likewise, the Harlem-based Christian minister and politician, Rev Adam Clayton Powell resented Dr King’s intervention after the Harlem riots that same year. Congressman Powell was one of a growing number of Black activists, who argued that no one individual - even someone as gifted as Dr King - could speak for the USA’s then 22 million African Americans. Others in the growing Black militant movement, such as Stokely Carmichael, Floyd McKissick and Malcolm X, argued that Dr King’s moderation and natural cautiousness meant he was unlikely to speak truth to power.

It can be argued that after major disturbances, voices of moderation invariably win out over trenchant, belligerent ones. However, Scripture often tells us that the true prophets are those who are the purveyors of unpalatable truths; men and women who tell those in power what they need to hear. Moreover, such individuals are often denounced as troublemakers (1 Kings 18:17), and face persecution for their views (Jeremiah 11:18-23). By 1968, Dr King had become such a prophet, blaming America’s many social upheavals on the ‘triple evils’ of racism, economic exploitation and militarism. As a result, he was unpopular with many Americans, and the media no longer saw him as an appropriate spokesperson, with some newspapers claiming he had out-served his usefulness to his people and country.

It is both fascinating and ironic that Black people in the Diaspora, unlike other groups, have always clamoured for leaders, who, like a modern-day Moses, will lead them into a modern-day Promised Land. “Black” history is replete with numerous men (and a few women) who have assumed such a leadership mantle with varying degrees of success. There is little doubt that whenever people base their hopes and dreams on a human being, disappointment usually follows. Dr King was aware of this, and always felt uncomfortable with the veneration and adoration he received. The great Civil Rights leader was ultimately a modest man, who said that what mattered most to him was doing the right thing on a range of crucial ethical and political issues of the day. Doing the right thing is always the mark of a leader, which is something we all can do.

Richard Reddie is a writer and cultural commentator. His latest book, “Martin Luther King, Jr: History Maker”, will be published by Lion Hudson on 21 October 2011, priced £10.99.