King changed politics when he came to live in Chicago on the West Side on Hamlin Street. He challenged Mayor Richard Daley’s democratic machine even as the powers-that-be told him his services were not needed here because there was no racism here.
But King argued that point and unfortunately had the point demonstrated to the world when he was hit with rocks thrown from a crowd of approximately 700 white folks during a violent protest march through Marquette Park on Chicago’s South Side on August 5, 1966.
The Chicago Tribune’s account of the event read:
“King and hundreds of demonstrators had scarcely set out on a march to promote open housing when he was struck by a rock. The blow knocked King to one knee and he thrust out an arm to break the fall. He remained in this kneeling position, head bent, for a few seconds until his head cleared.
“Aides and bodyguards closed in around King, holding placards aloft to shield him from the missiles that followed. King and the demonstrators had hoped to reach a real estate office on nearby 63rd Street, intending to demand that properties be rented and sold on a nondiscriminatory basis in the all-white Chicago Lawn neighborhood.
“Only a few of them made it before a riot broke out. At least 30 people were injured, some by a hail of bricks and bottles accompanied by racial epithets. Some counter-demonstrators were clubbed by baton-wielding police officers. More than 40 people were arrested when a crowd of whites blocked adjoining streets and cursed the police, several of whom were hurt.”
Afterwards, Dr. King said of the incident: “I've been in many demonstrations all across the South, but I can say that I have never seen – even in Mississippi and Alabama – mobs as hostile and as hate-filled as I've seen here in Chicago.”
King’s time in Chicago led to the formation of an independent politics here that eventually produced Harold Washington as Chicago’s first Black mayor, Jesse Jackson as a serious Black presidential candidate, and Barack Obama as America’s first Black president.
Dr. King was jailed 30 times. He marched and he marched and he marched. His preaching style was theology and poetry with a Baptist delivery. He led a student movement to the height of power in the land. Everyone counted in what he called “the beloved community.” He exemplified the definition of leadership. But the King era lasted a mere 13 years, with his death at the young age of 39.
As we examine his legacy and impactful, yet brief life, you can’t help but wonder what King would be doing in today’s social and political milieu. No doubt he would be marching with the kids on gun violence. He would make the kids an army. Indeed, they are borrowing a page from his playbook right now.
And I am sure that he would use his voice against Trump, as only a minister could. And most of all, there would definitely be the King Tweet.
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