BLACK AND WHITE TOGETHER

In her stimulating My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King tells of the day her husband received news that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize for 1964. He was in the hospital for a checkup, and a number of important citizens in Atlanta came to his room to offer their congratulations. Among the visitors was Archbishop Hallinan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, who asked Dr. King if he might give him his blessing. With Dr. King’s permission he proceeded to offer a traditional blessing, followed by the sign of the cross. Then to Dr. King’s surprise the archbishop knelt beside his bed and asked, “May I receive your blessing?”

Touching episodes like that are happening more and more these days as the Spirit of God continues His work upon our sectarian hearts. Dr. King remarked afterwards to his wife that it was beautiful to see a Roman Catholic archbishop kneeling before a Baptist preacher named Martin Luther! It must have been equally beautiful to see a white man bowing before a black man. To say the least, it was a dramatic moment of black and white together.

Mrs. King also tells how, when their party traveled in Europe on their way to Oslo to receive the Nobel award, white people would join them on the stage or in hotel lobbies as they sang that line in We Shall Over come that goes “Black and white together, Black and white together, we shall overcome someday.”

The song, which is the battle cry of the civil rights movement, has a melody that penetrates the soul and touches the heart. If it were possible, I would have you hear the Bishop College choir sing it as you read this article. In that event the music would surely effect you more than my words will. I recall the first time I made a point of listening carefully to the song that is now well-known throughout the world.

It was a black Baptist congregation in Dallas and the occasion was a city-wide memorial service for Martin Luther King, held just three days after his death. Rabbis, priests, ministers from all over Dallas were there, black and white. The mayor of Dallas gave a short eulogy, with tears in his eyes. A black preacher who had held revivals at the King church in Atlanta through the years and who knew the King family intimately was the main speaker. He was most effective, and what he said was more factual than it was emotional. He predicted that King would accomplish even more in his death than he did in life for the unity of mankind. He made reference to the many unfair accusations that had been made against his young friend, one of them being the charge that he was a Communist. “M. L. was no Communist. He was just trying, like Jesus, to help the down and out.” And by the way he said it, one had to suppose that he knew what he was talking about.

Several of the leading gentlemen of the cloth spoke. The Jewish rabbi was especially impressed, identifying King with that long line of noble men who have given their lives for depressed humanity. The Roman Catholic bishop could not be present, but his representative extolled King as one who now belonged to the ages, like Lincoln.

Insofar as I could tell Ouida and I and our Phoebe were the only ones of our folk that were there. All segments of the Restoration Movement were almost completely out of touch with King’s civil rights efforts, including our own black brethren. Since he was not “Church of Christ,” even our Negro folk were reluctant to recognize what he was doing for them. One of our black brothers tells of the night he heard of King’s assassination. A meeting was going on and he whispered the news from Memphis to those in charge. After some discussion they decided that perhaps an announcement should be made, and at the close of the service it was. The brother telling me about it felt that much more should have been made of such a tragic night in the history of the black man.

The Disciples of Christ invited Dr. King to address their International Convention a few years back when it was held in Dallas. The Dallas Disciples protested King being on the program, insisting that the national committee withdraw the invitation, the pretext being that the city authorities did no want to risk the possibility of assassination. The committee told the Dallas folk that if the invitation to King was to be withdrawn they would have to withdraw it. It was not withdrawn and King came. But it was a bitterly divided convention that year, and not just over restructure!

On at least one occasion our own black Marshall Keeble publicly recognized the contribution of King. To an all-black congregation he said: “Martin Luther King has done a lot for us. If it weren’t for him, we’d still be riding in the back of buses. If it weren’t for him, we couldn’t stop at motels and eat in restaurants.” But when his audiences were integrated he would say: “If it weren’t for the white folks, we’d still be running around naked. They’ve given us our buildings, they’ve educated us. White folks have been mighty good to us.”

So it was unlikely that the Restoration Movement would have ever produced a Martin Luther King. Neither is “We Shall Overcome” exactly our kind of music. Both King and the song were a little too much where the action is.

But back to the city-wide memorial service for King. It was dignified, appropriate, and emotionally-restrained. Then came that song. It seemed to emerge spontaneously. It was at the end and we were all standing. I do not recall ever being so touched by a song. There stood the clergy from several denominations, along with city officials, and hundreds of blacks and whites. A handsome brown man from Bishop College mounted the rostrum and began to sing, and soon he was joined by what sounded like an angelic multitude. We shall overcome . . . s-o-m-e-d-a-y. It was transporting. Deep in my h-e-a-r-t I do believe, we shall overcome someday. It was a tremendous tribute to a fallen leader. I watched Mayor Jonsson, of Texas Instruments fame, a great and good man, and one who is justly proud of presiding over a city free of race riots. He was standing alongside the old black brother that had told us of his friendship with young King. They were both singing. Black and White t-o-g-e-t-h-e-r . . .

I looked down at our little Phoebe. She was singing, as was her Mother. In front of us stood the president of Dallas Junior College System and behind us stood a man we then barely knew, President Curry of Bishop College. We were all singing. We shall all be f-r-i-e-n-d-.s . . . We shall overcome someday.

Black and white together! The sentiment is not only appropriate to such a song, but it is consistent with our profession of the religion of Jesus Christ. While it must be granted that we have largely inherited from our forebearers the ugly racial strife that now curses our nation, it must also be admitted that the white Christians of this generation have done far too little to heal the wounds. Our Lord came to make men one, so that they might enjoy the abundant life together. His mission was to break down the walls that divide men. Paul assures us that “Christ is the peace between us, and has made the two into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, actually destroying in his own person the hostility.”

The peace of Christ is antithetic to hostility, whether that hostility is between Jew and Greek, male and female, bond and free, or between colorations of the skin. If Christ dwells in us indeed, then we will be used as peacemakers for God, demolitionists who are set upon breaking down the walls of malice and prejudice.

So it is not enough for us to assert that we ourselves have built no walls, that we have nothing against any race. It is our problem whether we lay claim to it or not. Just as Jesus confronted the evils that he did not create, so must we seek to correct the injustices of our forbearers. And while we are at it, it is Just as well that we admit that we have kept in good repair the walls built by our fathers. We are not without sin.

I have given some thought as to some specific steps any of us might take to undo the wrongs that have so long been evident. Jesus teaches us that love is not mere sentiment or feeling, but action in behalf of others. For black and white to be together in Christ there must be a sharing of the common life. Love is concerned activity. Fellowship is an action word, being descriptive of a relationship where men help each other to grow. The things we suggest here are simple and everyday, but realistic starting points in waging peace.

1. Look for ways to bring young blacks and whites together.

Encourage the white youth in your congregation to visit with those in a black congregation across town. Arrange for bull sessions so that they can share ideas together. Make it possible for Negroes to attend what is now all-white camps. As acquaintances are made arrange for your son or daughter to visit in the home of his or her new black friend. This is better than having the Negro to your home. Your child needs to see how the Negro lives.

2. Arrange for white churches to hear black preachers.

This is extremely important if whites hear the Negroes in their own building. We have had enough of Negro evangelists entertaining white Christians under a big tent, or the occasional Negro on some college lectureship. Let the black man come to Gary Freeman’s “Fourth and Izzard church in Dallas” and occupy the pulpit a few times. Let him share with several of the classes, visit in the homes, and truly share in the common life of the congregation. And let the church pay him the same (or more) as it would a white evangelist.

3. Do something at the personal level for our black brothers.

We can all pray for our Negro friends in Christ, and we can ask for the wisdom to do more—and we must be wise in what we do. A white family might start by cultivating the friendship of a black family, with emphasis on the word cultivate. Gardens do not grow in a day; nor do real friendships. First contact can be made by a quiet visit to a black congregation. Mix and mingle. Learn a few names and faces. Return after a few weeks, and make it a point to get better acquainted with the same ones. Then can come a phone call to that person’s home. “We have a little gift for the children, and since we will be in the neighborhood tonight, we thought we might drop it by,” you can say. Drop by, but be casual and be brief. And don’t bother to try to talk about racial strife or prejudice. Talk about Jesus. If you can’t talk about Jesus, try the Cowboys! But don’t talk about how much you admired Martin Luther King, even if you did.

Once you have made friends with a Negro family you have opened up a new world of opportunity, for through them you can contact still others. After awhile you can invite them to your home, but it might be better to invite two or more couples rather than just one. Remember that it is even a stranger world to them than to you.

Or contact can be made by visiting Negroes in the hospital, or the aged in rest homes, or a teacher can arrange for you to get involved through some school project. Once you move into a your integrated world you will find you have more to pray about, more real social concerns, and more meaningful ways to invest your money.

4. Start your own freedom movement.

Not many of us have the courage of the man who was in line for a room at a fashionable hotel that always managed to be full when a Negro applied. A black man just ahead of him was turned away. But once the Negro was on his way out the clerk proceeded to register him. “Wait a minute, sir,” he shouted to the departing Negro. “The clerk must have made a mistake. He has a room after all!” That man had his own civil rights movement.

There are little things we can all do, loving things that mean much in this transition period from insanity to sanity. That employer that dared to obey the law and hire a Negro may need moral support. Go out of your way to commend the black waitress he has serving you, and don’t forget that the poor thing is trying harder since she’s number two, or three, or four. And if your school board has stuck its neck out by putting a black teacher in a white school, then stick your neck out by writing cordial letters both to the board and the teacher.

In short, stand up for Jesus by standing up for the Negro. Do your best to act so the unkind in town will call you “a nigger lover.” Then you can pray better than ever.

“Thank you, Father, for making me a little more like Jesus. They’re saying that I’m ‘a nigger lover’ and that’s what Jesus was. He so loved ‘niggers’ that He died for them on a cruel cross’—and for the wops, the greasers, the slant-eyed, and for sinners like me.”—the Editor