Bill Moyers: There was nothing in that quote about race. It was an historical fact, an affirmation

[kpete]

Martin Luther King and LBJ
By Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers Journal

Friday 18 January 2008

...................

Bill Moyers: There was nothing in that quote about race. It was an historical fact, an affirmation of the obvious. But critics pounced. THE NEW YORK TIMES published a lead editorial accusing Senator Clinton of "the distasteful implication that a black man needed the help of a white man to effect change." Suddenly we had a rhetorical inferno on our hands, with charges flying left and right, and pundits throwing gasoline on the tiniest of embers. Fortunately the furor has quieted down, and everyone's said they're sorry, except THE NEW YORK TIMES. But I can't resist this footnote to the story.

Many, many years ago, I was a young White House Assistant, when President Johnson at first wanted Martin Luther King to call off the marching, demonstrations, and protests. The civil rights movement had met massive resistance in the South, and the South, because of the seniority system, controlled Congress, making it virtually impossible for Congress to enact laws giving full citizenship to black Americans, no matter how desperate their lives. LBJ worried that the mounting demonstrations were hardening white resistance.

He had been the master of the Senate, the great persuader, who could twist your arm with such flair and flattery you thought he was actually doing you a favor by wrenching it from its socket. He reckoned that with a little time he could twist enough arms in Congress to end, or neutralize, the power of die-hard racists - all of them, including some of his old mentors, white supremacists who threatened to bring the government, if not the country, to its knees before they would see blacks eat at the same restaurants, go to the same schools, drink from the same fountains, and live in the same neighborhoods as whites.

As the pressure intensified on each side, Johnson wanted King to wait a little longer and give him a chance to bring Congress around by hook or crook. But Martin Luther King said his people had already waited too long. He talked about the murders and lynchings, the churches set on fire, children brutalized, the law defied, men and women humiliated, their lives exhausted, their hearts broken. LBJ listened, as intently as I ever saw him listen. He listened, and then he put his hand on Martin Luther King's shoulder, and said, in effect: "OK. You go out there Dr. King and keep doing what you're doing, and make it possible for me to do the right thing." Lyndon Johnson was no racist but he had not been a civil rights hero, either. Now, as president, he came down on the side of civil disobedience, believing it might quicken America's conscience until the cry for justice became irresistible, enabling him to turn Congress. So King marched and Johnson maneuvered and Congress folded.

more at:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011908A.shtml
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01182008/watch4.html

[saracat]

1. Bill Moyers, Truth teller.Beautiful piece.

[TriMetFan]

2. It is hard for people to....

read up the facts.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. That was a wonderful little segment,

and very, very true.

[sandnsea]

4. MLK did the pushing and prodding

The change came from the movement, that's what made it happen. LBJ wouldn't have done a thing otherwise. Bill Moyers misses the point in his own words.

[McCamy Taylor]

5. Moral is "It takes a political movement AND a politician to make a difference."

The people have to speak and the politician has to answer them. That is how you get things to change.

Sadly, sometimes it is the politicians or their corporate sponsors who want the change and they will simulate a groundswell of public opinion and claim they are responding to it.

[stravu9]

6. It WAS a Great Piece

which should be obvious to everyone.

[CTyankee]

7. Why does it take these old gray heads to be the bearers of history?

I lived through that era so I know MOyers is right. So often here on DU I see good hearted folks who feel very strongly but lack the historical knowledge of situations. I try hard to correct them when I feel I know enough about the history of the issue. Sometimes google is our friend, also...

[donkeyotay]

8. Thank Moyers for that piece. The cognitive dissonance between

what I saw and the way teevee saw it made me think I was losing my mind. The media is too involved in selection our next president. Remember, they brought us bush. I'm not a fan of Clinton, but the media manufactured their story out of a snippet out of context, and plenty of people signed on for it. It was a perfect example of why we need to take the important job of selecting our president out of their hands. They're making it sound like a game show or American Idol.

[ananda]

9. You know why this piece makes me so sad?

It's worse today, and there are no
leaders or people willing to do what
it takes to make real change.. not the
faux kind of H and O.

[creeksneakers2]

10. Moyers tells it like it was

Johnson did an incredible job getting civil rights legislation through Congress.