Abernathy On King

Twenty years ago Rev. Ralph David Abernathy published an autobiography called AND THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN. Abernathy was the heart and conscience of the civil rights movement as Dr King was its undisputed charismatic leader. It was widely panned by the powers that be, so I decided someday I must read it.

Now that you can get anything on the internet, I finally came by a copy. It was worth the wait. Anyone interested in freedom and the struggle thereto will very much enjoy this book.

Abernathy tells the story from one who was there as the movement got going. And Abernathy and King are so young when the story starts Abernathy has tales of them competing for the same gals to marry.

Abernathy describes a South few people recall or understand. It was brutal, but the Abernathy family had carved out a separate peace and thrived. The description of their life, and the South, and how they coped is a case study in “secession in place.”

How Abernathy and King met, their struggles and disappointments, the arc of the movement and its dissolution in the Resurrection City demonstration in the USCapitol is told city by city, campaign by campaign.

The dissension among black leaders and groups, the degree to which their movement had been infiltrated to subvert it, and the self-inflicted scandals are all there, the stuff of any movement.

One aspect is the sheer joy of their work, and Abernathy explains they had to protect MLK’s image: he had a keen sense of humor and was a deadly mimic, keeping the crew in stitches between confrontations. They appreciated the raw grandstanding of racist politicians, such as when one governor gave white women the day off so they could stay home when blacks marched (the implication being “uppity blacks” would assault white women if the were in a mob. The on the edge humor lasted until Rev. King’s funeral: Abernathy reveals the donkey-led rickety cart used to carry this poor boy to his grave had actually been stolen! They thought it would be easy to find one, but when it proved to be a challenge, well...

Few people realize that the Jim Crow laws which oppressed blacks in the South until the 1960’s were just that: laws. the powers that be passed the laws. The busses and businesses could care less about whether or not blacks ate in their restaurants or what seat they took on the bus. It was the government and politicians, using power aggregated by a political system, to put blacks in such a place.

Abernathy does not have much use for the Kennedy's, but he sure likes LB., who passed the voting rights act and other legislation the SCLC desired. Although Abernathy expressly states their success came from pressuring private business, he seems for most of the book to not realize that his success came through private channels, not the government channels. (Also, kind, gentle reasonable sheriffs were a disaster, since they did not generate news. Big success and support and money came when dogs and firehouses were turned loose.)

Fascinating are the details of the movement, events and strategy. Particularly interesting was the debate for the SCLC to back off and let the black militants bring down the wrath of the state upon themselves, and resume with nonviolent confrontation after the militants had been wiped out. The debate never finished, because King was murdered and the violence erupted.

It seems some mistakes in strategy were made.

1. Their appeals should have been to business, not to govt.

2. They ought not have stressed rights for negroes (the term kept changing), but rights for everyone. Blacks were pitted against poor whites who were as abused as blacks in many cases. We may have had better results faster if the terms of the argument were more inclusive. The powers that be were able to divide and delay.

Rev. Abernathy loves Jesse Jackson very much, but that does not mean Jackson comes off very favorably. Inner workings of Jackson’s schtick are revealed, not that it was any secret.

With our political system, as practiced, a small group of evil people can band together and take over the political landscape. Emerson regretted it and blamed the civil war on precisely such a concatenation. The oppression of blacks in the South was an unholy alliance between the government and big business. Small and medium business pressured the powers that be to finally make changes. Change did come.

In an effort to revive the movement, Abernathy led all peoples and races to set up Resurrection City in our nations capital. The event lasted a few months, a demonstration project highlighting need for government intervention and cooperation among minorities.

Abernathy was appalled to find Mexicans refusing to live next door to blacks, and youth gangs robbing and burgling the participants. It was an end of an era, and time for new leadership and direction. The movement died with Dr. King.

But on the last page of the book, Dr. Abernathy reproduces a proclamation of the SCLC declaring January 15th as Martin Luther King Day, under the aegis of the SCLC and over his signature. Finally Rev. Abernathy gets it. Private initiative is the best way.

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