Every Martin Luther King Day, Lerone Martin, director of American culture studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, re-reads the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
“It’s a wonderful piece that lays out the principles of nonviolent protest,” said Martin, who is also associate professor of religion and politics and of African and African American studies. “I love the way Martin Luther King is committed to nonviolence as a lifestyle, not just as a tactic for protest. It was an important message then and an important message today.”
For the 34th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration, Martin will explore King’s legacy with Peniel E. Joseph, a historian at the University of Texas at Austin and author of “The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.” Published in 2020, the book challenges persistent misconceptions about the leaders’ relationship and quests for justice.
The virtual commemoration will take place from 7:30-8:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 18. Join the event here. The School of Medicine also will host Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Week, featuring speakers and panels. View a full list of events here.
Here, Martin previews the discussion and shares King’s lessons for students.
What is new for readers in this book?
One of the many things this book does so well is to continue the conversation about how we understand these two men. They are often pitted against each other in public conversation or in public school curriculum. This book complicates that story and proves that they were not as opposed as many have concluded. He points out how they learned from one another and how the public perception we have is too narrow. By seeing them in a broader scope, we can better think through this current moment of Black Lives Matter, Antifa and what happened at the Capitol.
How did King’s religion shape his politics?
I love the fact that his vision for American democracy is thoroughly shaped by his faith. In our political moment, faith is often associated with conservative politics. He reminds us that there is a Christian faith that can have a more expansive vision of democracy and justice. He is popular today, but he took stands that were not popular at the time. But he was always guided by his faith and his courage.
Sen. Josh Hawley may be saying the same thing at this moment.
Yes, but what I would say is that some of the things Josh Hawley claims his faith is telling him to do are predicated on a false history of American greatness. These moments of imagined American greatness, from his perspective, coincided with a time when people of color and women didn’t have equal rights. If we’re going to follow in the tradition of Martin Luther King, our faith should always be leading us to affirming the humanity of all. I don’t see some of the claims Josh Hawley has made about America to be rooted in history and to be inclusive of all of humankind.
Students are submitting questions for you to ask the author. What do they want to know?
They want to know what Martin Luther King has to say to us today. With violence in the streets, students are asking if Martin Luther King is still relevant. It’s very easy for some young adults to be persuaded that somehow King has failed or that his dream is actually a nightmare. That’s shortsighted. No matter what’s happening today in this country, we cannot deny that he was a part of a movement that really helped us redefine American democracy. That is not to say that everything is perfect. Surely we know, from the events at the Capitol, that is not true. But it’s also not true to say the movement did not make a difference.
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