Use your toilet paper?
MLK event attracts big crowd for ceremony and march; keynote speaker gives unusual message
This article is brought to you by Freedom Financial.
As the Rev. Dr. Winterbourne Harrison-Jones of Witherspoon Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis began his message at Kokomo’s Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial celebration on Jan. 16, he asked the crowd to turn to each other and encourage them to “use your toilet paper.”
The request drew smiles and a few laughs from those in attendance at the Second Missionary Baptist Church for the event, but the reason for the request became apparent as Rev. Dr. Harrison-Jones spoke. He explained that Dr. King’s arguably most important writing – a letter from solitary confinement in the Birmingham, Ala., jail in 1963 – was written on any scrap of paper he could obtain.
“What did he write his letter on?” asked Rev. Dr. Harrison-Jones. “The Greeks wrote on wood and stone. The ancient Egyptians and Chinese wrote on papyrus. The Romans used paper and linen. But what did Dr. King use to write this letter from his jail cell? Toilet paper!
“From solitary confinement, on scraps of newspaper and toilet paper, Dr. King penned these words for he refused to allow where he was to stop the power of his voice. Dr. King used toilet paper to send a message to the nation. Dr. King used toilet paper to strike fear in the hearts of all those who opposed justice. Dr. King used toilet paper to hit at the very heart of American hypocrisy. Toilet paper is a powerful thing if you know how to use it.
“So many people are out there looking to be rescued. So many people are looking for the next man or woman to get the job done. If I use my toilet paper and you use your toilet paper, we can turn this world upside-down.
“This is not a time for Christian passivity. The work of justice cannot be done alone. We must march forward into the hope of tomorrow in one accord – hand-in-hand and heart-in-heart.”
Dr. King’s letter, transcribed by supporters, filled 20 typewritten pages. And the message he delivered with it in response to an editorial attack by eight White clergymen, detailed Dr. King’s philosophy of non-violent demonstration and the struggle for Black equality. The concepts went on to form the foundation of his 1964 book, “Why We Can’t Wait.”
And it was those concepts that drove the capacity crowd at the event to take to the streets, marching along the section of Apperson Way newly renamed for Dr. King to the memorial erected in his honor.
Second Missionary Baptist Church pastor Rev. Dr. William J. Smith Jr. summarized the intent of the annual event and the need for its continuance 60 years after Dr. King’s Birmingham letter was written.
“It is our work to build this beloved community,” said Rev. Dr. Smith. “The work of wholehearted integration in society, church, and community includes not only people who are excluded by race, but everyone who is excluded by gender, disability … we recognize that human progress must take place.
“It is important that we work together and celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, but also to commit to doing the work of justice.”
Following is an excerpt from Dr. King’s Birmingham letter that directly answers the question issued by the clergymen who criticized him as he and his supporters marched and demonstrated in Birmingham in 1963. In it, he explains why there is never an “appropriate” time to protest injustice.
“I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, ‘Wait.’ But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your 20 million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your 6-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a 5-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos, “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”; then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.”
Damn good writing and revealing reporting Patrick!
Professor Maynard Eaton