Part II
Black Americans were protesting, and their protest alarmed white Americans. Given the "river of Negro protest," wrote a reporter for Newsweek, America might want to ask "'who are these revolutionaries? What do they want?'"
For journalist Jonathan Eig, the second question was easy. Both the subject of his book (Dr. King) and Black Americans during the Civil Rights era wanted the same thing. That is, freedom from the tyranny of oppression. They wanted freedom from the fear of terrorism, from lynching, segregated schools and governmental institutions. Black Americans wanted the freedom to walk the streets without acknowledging unfair privileges reserved for whites. They wanted the freedom to send their children to good schools. They wanted the freedom to vote. Black Americans knew their lives to matter and wanted everyone to recognize this fact too.
Black Americans knew they were human beings. When will white America learn this lesson?
As for the first question, Eig shows that every Black was involved in the movement against tyranny, and, therefore, every Black was a revolutionary, seeking change.
In the meantime, Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., as the movement's leader had the dual job of inspiring the protests and explaining them to white America," writes Eig. King of a people tired of "'quietly'" enduring, "'silently'" suffering,'" and "'patiently'" waiting. Citing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," Eig writes that change is as unavoidable as the air that swirls around us." Black Americans felt it, if not those who wanted the status quo to remain in tact. King felt it.
The Civil Rights leader, Eig argues, had thought about teaching like W. E. B. Du Bois or Benjamin Mays, but he came under the influence of Gandhi and what he learned from the man made him change his mind about the direction of his life. Writes Eig, King makes a decision: He "would force his 'oppressor to commit his brutality openly" with the rest of the world looking on.'"
King had done as much in Birmingham, Eig reminds us, when he led a prayer protest along with Rev. Ralph Abernathy. Bull Connor, seeing the protesters, shouted to his officers that King and Abernathy weren't to go any further. The men, along with a hundreds of Black protesters had just a few blocks to go before reaching the Sixteenth Baptist Church. Police, following the orders of Connor, set barricades before the protesters. That's when King and Abernathy, followed by the protesters, writes Eig, knelt down in prayer.
Connor's officers proceeded to "King by the elbow." They "pulled him to his feet and they did the same to Abernathy." The two were then shoved into a police wagon but not before the crowd heard King shout, "'keep the movement going.'" The two leaders found themselves sitting, side by side, in the dark, listening to Connor tell the officers to take them to jail. "'Put them in solitary.'"
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