The Michael Eric Dyson Reader (93 page)

62
. Michael Eric Dyson, “Martin Luther King Jr., The Evil of Racism, and the Recovery of Moral Vision,” in
Union Seminary Quarterly Review
44 (1990): 88–91.

63
. Gen. 50:20 (Revised Standard Version).

64
. Quoted in Martin Luther King Jr.,
Stride toward Freedom
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 160.

65
. See William Safire’s comments on the attempts by both Democrats and Republicans to use God’s name “as a symbol for the other side’s immorality, much as the American flag was used in previous campaigns as a symbol for the other side’s lack of patriotism,” in “God Bless Us,”
New York Times
, Aug. 27, 1992, p. A23.

66
. Fish, “There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It’s a Good Thing, Too,” p. 243.

67
. See, for instance, Martin Luther King’s discussion of his disappointment with the white church in
A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr.
, ed. James M. Washington (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986), pp. 345–346.

68
. See King’s response to white clergymen who deemed his actions in Birmingham, Alabama, as “unwise and untimely,” in his famous “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” in
A
Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr.
(San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986), pp. 289–302.

69
. Ernest T. Campbell,
Locked in a Room with Open Doors
.

70
. Hauerwas and Baxter, “The Kingship of Christ,” p. 18.

71
. Ibid., p. 19.

72
. Ibid., p. 21.

73
. Ibid., p. 22.

74
. Denis Mack Smith
, Mussolini: A Biography
(New York: Vintage Books, 1982), p. 161.

75
. James Hastings Nichols,
Democracy and the Churches
(Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1951), p. 186.

76
. Nichols,
Democracy and the Chu
rches, p. 182; and Smith,
Mussolini,
p. 65.

77
. Nichols,
Democracy and the Churches
, p. 183.

78
. Smith,
Mussolini,
pp. 159, 163.

79
. Ibid., pp. 159–161.

80
. Smith,
Mussolini,
p. 163; and Nichols,
Democracy and the Churches,
p. 189.

81
. Smith,
Democracy and the Churches,
p. 162.

82
. I have in mind here liberation theologians who link notions of Christian salvation with sharp forms of social analysis that get at the economic, political, and social forces that mask liberation in concrete form. For just one recent example, see the important work by Franz J. Hinkelammert,
The Ideological Weapons of Death: A Theological Critique of Capitalism,
trans. Phillip Berryman (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1986).

Also, it seems that Hauerwas’s desire to make the church more socially relevant is better served by citing the work of black, feminist, and liberation theologians. Especially in regard to liberation theology, Paul Lauritzen argues that Hauerwas has a great deal in common with Latin American theologian Johannes Metz, particularly regarding each author’s use of narrative in their work. In “Is ‘Narrative’ Really a Panacea? The Use of ‘Narrative’ in the Work of Metz and Hauerwas,” in
Journal of Religion
(1987): 322–339, Lauritzen writes: “Although these writers represent different religious traditions, both rely in significant ways on the category of narrative in their work. . . . Both Metz and Hauerwas are concerned to revitalize Christian faith, both want to make it once again socially relevant, and both are adamant that it retain its distinctiveness. That both should also place such a heavy emphasis on the concept of narrative . . . is not coincidental” (p. 323).

83
. I am not suggesting that all of Pius XI’s views about the social order are captured in the “Kingship of Christ.” His encyclical
Quadragesimo Anno
, issued in 1931, remains one of Catholicism’s most impressive statements containing the social teachings of the church, including government’s role in society and in the economy, the belief in a just wage, laborers’ right to organize, and strong Christian criticism of both capitalism and socialism. But this document must be juxtaposed to Pius XI’s antidemocratic actions and statements during the reign of Mussolini. Neither am I suggesting personal perfection as a criterion to determine the acceptability of an intellectual position; in that case, my example of King would be immediately nullified. I am suggesting, however, that these characteristics of Pope Pius XI that I have sketched have direct bearing on the principles and proposals under discussion; there is an organic link, I would argue, between Pope Pius XI’s views and practices regarding democracy, Fascism, and the morally subordinate status of the Catholic Church and his recommendations about the Kingship of Christ. His views are suspect precisely because they have to do with his moral and theological failures in his office as pope, the official head of the Catholic Church.

The words “somewhere I read of the freedom of speech ” are from King, “ I See the Promised Land, ” in
King,
A Testament, p. 282.

1
. Dyson, “The Cruellest,” p. 33.

2
. Dyson,
Race Rules,
p. 81.

3
. Barth,
Christ and Adam
and
The Word
of
God and the Word of Man.

4
. Pipes,
Say Amen Brother!
Mitchell,
Black Preaching;
Davis,
I Got the Word in Me;
Pitts,
The Old Ship
of
Zion;
Boulware,
The Oratory
of
Negro Leaders;
Thomas,
They Always;
Rosenberg,
Can These Bones Live?
Raboteau,
Fire in the Bones,
pp. 141–151; Hamilton,
The Black
Preacher,
Spencer,
Sacred Symphony.

5
.
Wall Street Journal,
Nov. 9, 1990, pp. A1, 6;
New York Times,
Nov. 10, 1990, p. A10;
Atlanta
Journal-Constitution,
Nov. 11, 1990, p. A8;
USA Today,
Nov. 13, 1990, p. A11;
Bloomington
[Indiana]
Herald-Times,
Nov. 16, 1990, p. A6;
Chicago Tribune,
Nov. 18, 1990, p. V2;
Washington Post,
Nov. 18, 1990, p. C5;
San Jose Mercury-News,
Nov. 19, 1990, p. A1;
Newsweek,
Nov. 19, 1990, p. 61;
Chronicle
of
Higher Education,
Nov. 21, 1990, p. A8;
New York Amsterdam News,
Dec. 1, 1990, p. 24;
Time,
Dec. 3, 1990, p. 126;
Los Angeles Times,
Dec. 11, 1990, p. E1;
New
Republic,
Jan. 28, 1991, pp. 9–11;
Journal
of
American History,
June 1991, pp. 11–123.

6
. Higham, “Habits of the Cloth,” p. 109.

7
. Miller,
Voice
of
Deliverance.

8
. Ibid., esp. pp. 1–28, 41–141.

9
. Ibid., esp. pp. 142–158.

10
. Lischer,
The Preacher King.

11
. Ibid., esp. pp. 8, 93–118.

12
. Ibid., p. 63.

13
. Ibid.

14
. Ibid., pp. 106–111.

15
. Miller,
Voice
of
Deliverance,
pp. 67–85, 186–197.

16
. Lischer,
The Preacher King,
esp. p. 14.

17
. Miller,
Voice of Deliverance,
pp. 169–197. Also see Miller, “Composing Martin Luther King Jr.,” pp. 70–82.

18
. Lischer,
The Preacher King,
pp. 112–113.

19
. The phrase is in Du Bois,
The Souls of Black Folk,
p. 45.

20
. Lewis, “Failing to Know Martin Luther King Jr.,” p. 82; Genovese,
The Southern Front,
p. 174.

21
. Coretta King claims that her husband, in his “I Have a Dream” speech, “intended to echo some of the Lincolnian language,” speaking of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, to which King made early reference in his oration (C. King,
My Life,
p. 236).
The same speech famously extends Jefferson’s majestic words by giving them moral immediacy in the nation’s racial drama. King implored America to “live out the true meaning of its creed, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” (King, “I Have a Dream,” in King,
A Testament,
p. 219). King claims to have been profoundly influenced by Gandhi in his beliefs about nonviolence (“Pilgrimage to Nonviolence,” in Washington, ed.,
A Testament,
pp. 38–39). Keith Miller, however, argues that “Gandhi exerted very little direct influence on King,” since King had “learned nonviolence almost entirely from American sources” (Miller,
Voice of Deliverance,
p. 88). But however he got hold of Gandhi’s ideas, there is little doubt that they profoundly influenced King’s beliefs and behavior. Finally, King paid homage to Du Bois’s greatness, and the influence on him of some of Du Bois’s ideas, in King, “Honoring Dr. Du Bois,”
Freedom Ways
8, Spring 1968, reprinted in
WE.B. Du Bois Speaks, Vol. 1, Speeches and Addresses, 1890–1919
(Foner, ed.).

22
. Prathia Hall was the student whose prayer in Albany at a service King attended included the phrase “I have a dream” (Lischer,
The Preacher King,
p. 93). As Lischer notes, her inspired prayer was charged by a resonant notion in black communities of a dream or vision animating civil rights activists. King, moved by her prayer, seized its central metaphor and enlarged its yearning into a prophetic vision of hope for racial justice. Archibald Carey was the Chicago preacher, jurist, banker, and politician whose speech to the Republican National Convention gave King a galvanizing image for his “I Have a Dream” speech (Miller,
Voice of Deliverance,
p. 146). After quoting from “America the Beautiful,” Carey rose to oratorical splendor: “That’s exactly what we mean—from every mountain side, let freedom ring. Not only from the Green Mountains and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire; not only from the Catskills of New York; but from the Ozarks in Arkansas, from the Stone Mountain in Georgia, from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia—let it ring not only for the minorities of the United States, but for. . . the disinherited of all the earth—may the Republican Party, under God, from every mountainside, LET FREEDOM RING!” (cited in Miller,
Voice of Deliverance,
p. 146). King snatched this passage nearly word for word from Carey to cap his most famous oration.

23
. Miller,
Voice of Deliverance,
pp. 192–193.

24
. King,
Strength to Love.

25
. Lischer,
The Preacher King,
pp. 4–5.

26
. Ibid.

27
. In truth, however, the case of Milli Vanilli, the multimillion record selling pop duo who won 1990’s Grammy Award for best new artist, is not as simple as it seems. The duo, composed of black Europeans Rob and Fab, went down in infamy after it was revealed that they hadn’t sung a note on their award-winning album, and they were subsequently forced to return their Grammy. Rob and Fab were talented and handsome performers. Desperate to land a record deal, they agreed to be the faces for a studio-produced album of songs engineered by a manipulative white European producer. Neither the duo nor their producer had any idea that the album would do so well and that it would garner Milli Vanilli international fame and fortune. Disagreements between the duo and their “producer”—especially over Rob and Fab’s desire to represent their own work on wax—led to a falling out that forced the duo to confess their mendacity publicly. Despite their extreme embarrassment and shame, Rob and Fab eventually were able to make an album featuring their own work, proving that they had genuine talent. By then, however, their downfall had eclipsed widespread interest in their work. Later, they split up, and in 1998, Rob committed suicide after several unsuccessful attempts. Their story is not simply one of the massive attempt to defraud the public while capitulating to the seductions of fame, fortune, and women. It is as well a bitter and tragic update of an old phenomenon: a white music executive exploiting vulnerable black artists for commercial gain. The tragedy is that Rob and Fab’s authentic artistry was buried beneath the scandal of their misdeed. See “Behind the Music,” VHl, March 28, 1999.

28
. Carson et al., eds.,
The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr.,
Volume 1:
Called to Serve, January 1929–June 1951,
and Volume 2:
Rediscovering Precious Values, July 1951–November 1955;
Genovese,
The Southern Front,
p. 162.

29
. Branch,
Parting the Waters,
p. 66. Branch says that King borrowed his first sermon from Harry Emerson Fosdick’s “Life Is What You Make It.”

30
. Martin Luther King Jr., Papers Project, “The Student Papers of Martin Luther King Jr.,” pp. 28–29; Lewis,
King,
pp. 37–38; Branch,
Parting the Waters,
pp. 72, 76; Garrow, “King’s Plagiarism,” p. 90.