Transcript
[applause]
Thank you very kindly, President McCord, for these very kind and generous words of introduction. I need not pause to tell you how delighted I am to be up from my hospital bed in Atlanta, Georgia, and find myself not in a warmer climate following the advice of my physician, but in a colder climate here in New Jersey. I'm glad to be here for several reasons. Number one, I have been the recipient of a very fine, flattering introduction
from this President. Down in Alabama, my native state, I'm called an outside agitator. In Georgia, where I live, I'm called a rabblerouser, and in Mississippi, where I work, I'm called a troublemaker. It's certainly good to come to this seminary. This place where men and women are prepared to carry on the work of a master, and at least be called a decent human being. Mr. President, this is one of the reasons why I'm glad to be here.
As a second reason, I flew into Philadelphia earlier today, and wherever I fly anywhere, it's always good to get there. I don't want to give anybody the impression that as a minister of the Gospel, that I doubt God. I have faith in him on the ground as well as in the air. It's just that I've had more dealings with him on the ground. But in all sincerity, I cannot state to you clearly why I wanted to
come to Princeton, and I promised my position that I would master the question and answer period, and I would do what is uncommon for Baptist preachers, and that is be brief in my presentation. If I could only keep this engagement to distinguished members of the faculty and guests, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to express my deep thanks to the Princeton Theological Seminary, and especially to the student body for your invitation to me to deliver this James
J. Reeb Memorial Lecture in memory of a Gallup freedom fighter, and in honor of the cause for which he made the supreme sacrifice three years ago on my birthday, March 11th. I consider it a high privilege to speak to you tonight of James Reeb. He was a brave and cherished colleague in the movement struggle for human rights. He was a man who saw his brothers in grave danger and went to them in the hour of need.
He was to me a minister who lived and died for the highest purpose to which God could call him, the service of his fellow man. As I think of the inspired scholars and eminent theologians who have passed through the halls of this great seminary, and of those who are here today and who are yet to come to Princeton, I know that you can never have a more distinguished graduate than James J. Reeb. No man can make
a greater sacrifice than he. No thinker could possibly develop a higher and more penetrating theology than James Reeb's ultimate testimony to love. No minister could ever deliver a more eloquent and moving sermon than James Reeb's message of redemptive suffering. As the year of 1965 opened, it was a difficult time for the civil rights movement and for black people in particular. Everywhere there were proclamations that our nonviolent movement was dead, that black people could gain no more
victories through the kind of mass action we had mobilized in earlier years. The President of the United States told me and my closest associate and friend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that the Congress was in no mood to enact a bill to protect the elementary right to vote. But we in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, in the face of grave doubts about our chances of successes, went into the town of Selma, Alabama, to dramatize our demand
for the right to vote. We went there on faith alone, because even those who supported us said our movement in Selma could not be productive. Our faith taught us that no forces, however evil and brutal and vicious, could deny the elementary right of the ballot in a democratic society. So we marched into Selma just like John walked in Jerusalem, saying we ain't gonna let nobody turn us around. As you know the story of Selma, there were
the bullies commanded by Sheriff Jim Clark, who thought his violence could kill an idea. There were the mounted Alabama troopers who were trained to believe that their horses and clubs were more powerful than truth itself. And there were literally millions of sympathizers with our cause who sat back at home and said the movement won't work this time, but not James Reeb. He knew that he had a mission. He knew as a clergyman that the best Christian
is the one who will stake his life on justice, as Christ himself did. He knew that God called him to Selma as Jesus was called to Jerusalem. We need not dwell tonight upon the appalling tragedy of the fatal beating of James Reeb. I submit rather that in commemorating this honored martyr, we look for a way to continue his work, just as we in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference are trying to pay the highest tribute to Martin
Luther King, not by building statues and monuments, stones, pillows, a name in streets and thoroughfares after him, but by carrying on his programs and seeing to it that his humble efforts to redeem the soul of America shall not have been in vain. If you have a sense of despair tonight about the possibility of meaningful reform in America and the prospects for a decent world society, I ask you to think of James Reeb. There was despair in
1965, too, but the undeniable urgency of a right to vote was so compelling that people went to Selma regardless of the risk of the arts against victory. And out of that movement of fear and uncertainty and peril came one of the most shining triumphs of America and human history. The conscience of the nation and of the world was so dramatically challenged in the little town of Selma, Alabama, that a stubborn and a weak-willed Congress was
finally moved to enact the Voting Rights Bill of 1965. Let us never forget, however, that there would be no such federal law today that millions of Black people in the South could not now vote, and that hundreds of Negroes would not be in public office this very night. This could not be if there had not been a Selma and a James Reeb. This is the legacy of James Reeb. If we really believe in all the words
of our Declaration of Independence, of the Constitution of the United States of America, of the Holy Scriptures, then we must act to make those beautiful and idealistic words a reality, not for rich alone, not for white, black, or poor alone, but for all of God's children, regardless of their previous conditions of servitude and unto liberty and justice, is a reality for all American citizens and freedom rings from every mountainside, from the snow-capped rockers of Colorado
to the Appalachians of Alabama and the Alleghenies of Pennsylvania, until freedom rings from every mountainside, stone mountain of Georgia, from every molehill in the valleys and in the swamps of Louisiana and the cotton fields of Alabama and the red clay hills of Mississippi, until freedom rings and all of God's children can enjoy the blessings of this land. May you find no peace at your home, in your classroom, in your church, your synagogue, or your cathedral. May
your nights be long and your pillars be hard, until the kingdom of God come on it. And if that valley is exalted, the hills and mountains are made low, the crooked straight and the rough places are plain, and men beat their swords in the pouches, their spears in the pruning hooks, and not only black and white live together as brothers, but the lion lie down with the lamb. Tonight, as we near the end of another year
of despair in our nation, 1968, we hear once again the voices of doom. Just as we knew in 1965 that black people could not vote, we know that 40 million poor Americans of every race and background do not have enough food and jobs and decent education and housing. And the prophets of despair say that America will not solve these problems, for we have elected to the presidency of the United States of America a man whose background
as a legislator in California, as a member of the Congress of the United States, as a congressman, and as a senator. This record does not convince us that he is concerned at all with solving the problems that face us as a nation and as a people, much less an understanding of these problems. But let me say to you, you may be assured that as long as there is breath in my body, I will be there knocking
on the walls saying to Richard Nixon, let my people go. I say to you, first of all, that America can solve the problems if only we follow the example of men, like James Reeb. We cannot stay home merely deploring the evils that afflict America. We must act. We cannot hide ourselves behind beautiful stained glass windows and sing the great hymns of the church. In Christ there is no east or west in him, no south or north.
We cannot robe ourselves in the beautiful garments and wear crosses and other ornaments about our necks. We must go forth and act. We must find those people who are hungry and feed them. We must find those without clothing and clothe them. We must find those in prison and visit them. For it is a true fact that maybe we did not come over to America on the same ship, but I bet doggies we ain't gonna sink in
the same boat. Yes, we must be prophets, not only of protest, but we must be prophets of action. Those of us who are ministers must preach a gospel of social action from our pulpits and follow through with a life of social action in our communities. The fate of James Reeb, Jimmie Lee Jackson, Mrs. Viola Liuzzo, Martin Luther King, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Robert Francis Kennedy may await some of us. Temporary back sets and constant frustrations may impede
us, but we must go on. Whether it be on marches and demonstrations and jailings are in the local community which the only thing that can stop us is our own paralysis of will. I challenge you tonight to break out of that paralysis. I challenge you to join me in creating another Selma in defying the clouds of confusion and faint-hearted counsel of despair. And there was a Selma in 1965 where the basic dignity of human beings
was crushed until people rose up for the right to vote in an affirmation of their manhood. There was a James Reeb who was called to Selma to die so that this little town could transform a nation. Tonight in 1968, as we near 1969, there is a Selma in America where children are starving. This Selma is in Mississippi, it is in Alabama, and it is everywhere across the Southland. This Selma is located where Mr. James Eastland's plantation
is paid $13,000 every month not to grow grain or to grow fiber, whereas a black child on the welfare is paid only $9 a month. There is a Selma in Alabama and in Mississippi. But it is also in nearby Newark and Jersey City. And forgive me, but it's even here in Princeton. For babies here and babies there too are dying in a Selma of rats and malnutrition and unheated apartments. Let there be also a James
Reeb to go and end the Selmas of hunger in this nation and bring about justice and peace and equality for the 200 million citizens of this richest nation in the history of mankind. Tonight in 1968, as we near 1969, there is a Selma in America where people are sick and uncared for. Let there be a James Reeb who will go there and demand that this Selma heal its sick. The sick may be a white man so
poisoned by prejudice that he cannot be a man enough to know that all men are brothers. The sick may be a white Appalachian father who cannot afford medical care for his family. The sick may be black children who cannot see a dentist, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans who cannot pay a doctor, elderly people who cannot go to a hospital. They need a James Reeb who will even die if necessary to get their medical attention. After having spent
10 days resting and sleeping and dreaming and aching and paining, I felt rested on my plane as it made its way from Atlanta to Philadelphia this morning. Sherman Skinner said to me, you are a liberal and I am a conservative. And the liberals have had their day and it's now time that we conservatives take over. She said it was unfortunate that Barry Goldwater was not nominated so I only had George Wallace to vote for. And then
we began to talk about some of the problems that we face in this nation. I said to her, I count myself a fortunate American citizen for on Saturday evening when my physician said that I could worship at my church on yesterday, I went out into the business office and decided I would check up on my bill. My wife wanted to keep me in the hospital so she had taken my suit and shoes away. I put on
my bathrobe and my real sexy red pajamas and went out to the business office and discovered that my 10-day stay at the hospital cost $996 to the hospital alone. I began to tell her that story. That did not include the doctor's bill who knows me very well and he'll send his a month or so later. I was able to write a check, hopefully that the beacons would make a deposit this morning so that it would
not bounce on the whole family hospital. $996 for 10 days trying to regain my health. Many of those days I didn't know where I was or who I was. But I consider myself a fortunate American citizen. How many hundreds and thousands and millions of people black as I am, white as you are, brown as you are, as yellow as you are who are suffering and must die because they do not have $996 to enter a hospital.
Two years ago I was in Oslo. I told the story to my students. The Abernathy became ill and we were considered celebrities in their country and they sent for the superintendent of the hospital to attend my wife, the superintendent of the university. They have some type of system that the hospital is connected with the university and the superintendent of the university became her personal physician and she was taken to a private apartment on the 10th floor
of the hospital and every time I was there or any visitors were there at meal time they served not only my wife but they served me as well as the guests and finally it became apparent that I would have to go on down to Stockholm Sweden without Mrs. Abernathy and come back and pick her up on my journey back to the United States. Martin Luther King, my dearest friend, said Ralph I'm going back to Oslo with
you to get Juanita. I was very happy because I knew I didn't have much money and I thought with his and mine together somehow we could meet the hospital bill and we went to the hospital and they sent us to see the cashier who came out very apologetic and said Dr. Abernathy we must charge you because you are not a citizen of this country and neither is your wife. I said I understand, still anxious to get
the bill so that I could turn to Dr. King and we could put our dollars together. He said your wife has been with us for a week now. I said yes but how much is it? He said it is forty nine dollars and sixty three cents. Forty nine dollars and sixty three cents. If this can happen in little Norway, certainly it can happen in the richest country in the history of mankind. If the Scandinavian countries can
do away with poverty, certainly we can do away with poverty here in the richest nation in the world. If we can spend 25 billion dollars to put a man on the moon then why in the devil can't we spend billions of dollars to stand people on their feet right here in the United States of America? I tell you that we have majored in minors and we have minored in majors. We have our priorities mixed up. If
we can spend five hundred thousand dollars to kill every Vietcong soldier ten thousand miles away from home then why can't we spend thousands of dollars in a war against poverty right here in the United States of America? When I was in Vietnam in January many of the black soldiers which I was able to see only through the courtesy of another Baptist. I went on the world tour with some religious leaders of all faiths and denominations. We
had a distinguished Presbyterian General Anderson with us. We had two good Baptists. Didn't take but two pole cats to stink up any rung. That's all that's necessary. Governor Stassen was the other Baptist present and he said to General Westmoreland that Dr. Abernathy is not pleased and is not satisfied because he has been here in Saigon and has not seen but three black soldiers in three days and I want you to get a helicopter and carry him
wherever the black soldiers are and they carried me to the front lines and there I saw them but they said to me Dr. Abernathy we have experienced more democracy here in Vietnam than we experienced back in the United States of America for when we go back home we cannot rent an apartment or we cannot buy a home in a neighborhood even though we have the money simply because of the color of our skin and at least
here on the battle line we feel equal to our white brothers. Tonight in 1968 I say to you again that there is a Selma in America where men cannot find decent jobs or adequate training. Let there be a James Reeb who will find meaningful employment for them. Tonight there is a Selma where schools are crowded and students are condemned to a bewilderment of ignorance instead of enlightenment and education. Let there be a James Reeb to say
as long as these children are denied the best education America can never be educated to save herself. Tonight there is a Selma where a Jim Clark is beating people down, where a landlord is evicting a penniless family into the cold streets of winter where a policeman is exploiting fear and racism. Let there be a James Reeb to go there and demand an end to this justice and tonight there is a Selma in Africa and in India
and South America and in Czechoslovakia and Vietnam where people are ruled by dictators and suppressed by guns. Let there be a James Reeb to go there with both words and deeds of peace and non-violence. However dark the night may seem in all these Selmas, however threatening are those who rule these Selmas. There will be a new dawn and a new leadership if people like James Reeb will go out into the darkness and commit themselves to
the cause to be served. Therefore I challenge you this evening as you stand amidst the darkness of hunger, of injustice and inequality, unemployment and under-employment. Curse not the darkness but light a candle. Two little shrewd, half-brilliant boys decided that they would trick an old philosopher one day who knew the answer to most of the perplexing problems that faced mankind. So they caught a bird and put the bird in their hand and said today we
are going to trick the old philosopher for we shall ask him what is this that we have in our hands and if he shall say a live bird we shall but crush the bird until the breath has left his body and open our hands and there will be a dead bird and then if he would but say that it is a dead bird that you have in your hands we will open our hands and let the
bird fly away. So they thought they were hit and they went down to see the old philosopher and they looked at the old green man and said to him what do we have in our hands and he said well of course you have a bird. They said yes it is a bird but tell us is it a live bird or is it a dead bird? The philosopher looked down at the earth and then looked up at
the sky and then he scratched his head and then he looked them dead in the eyes as I now look you in the eyes and he said to them the answer is in your hand. So whether America lives or dies, whether this civilization shall become trash or ruin on the junk piles of time and eternity as 22 preceding civilizations hath become, whether men beat their swords in the plowshares, their spears in the pruning hooks and steady
war no more, whether the values of society will be exalted in the hills of injustice made low and whether we learn to live together as brothers or perish as spoons. I say to you young people that the answer is in your hand if you go forth and answer the clarion call as did James Reeb and find yourself in the Selmas of the nation. The civilization and the nation will live but if you will seek to find
comfort, security and peace for yourself and your families alone on some secure college campus like Harvard, Yale or even Princeton then you will die and I will die with you. The answer is in your hand. [applause]