Part of me finds it ironic that two White guys are disagreeing about the intention of Dr. King’s words. I read the Atlantic piece and saw it describing how many contemporary Black Lives Matter protesters have given up on Dr. King’s belief in moral suasion and unconditional love even for enemies.

I see a significant difference between buying weapons for self defense when you are getting death threats and your house is being bombed and advocating violent action in the streets. Many northern activists never accepted his message.

Part of what lead to King’s enduring legacy was that he built bridges to other communities by calling upon the aspirations of the founding fathers and to build a society based on equality and justice. The tension between separatism and inclusion has always been present in the Black freedom struggle.

To me our discussion reveals part of the trap we are in. We can’t force other people to change and we can only meet people where they are. To say that change comes slowly is based on four hundred years of American history and my quick analysis of the recent election results. In a polarized environment the energy we put into fighting for change ends up inspiring the other side to fight harder. Some how we need to find a ground to allow some of the energy to drain out of the system.

I think that is part of the tragedy of Dr. King’s life. His effectiveness came in part because he built a bridge to White Democrats like Lyndon Johnson. Ultimately he burnt that bridge when he came out against the Vietnam War. Dr. King had been in effect abandoned by his White political allies and by the more radical black activists. To me his greatest legacy is as an inspiration for everyone to fight for greater justice. I think of his words, “If America is to become a great nation. . .”

The point of my Niebuhr quote towards the end was that truly significant change often takes a long time. That doesn’t however mean that we don’t fight for justice while bringing the specific talents that we can bring to bear.