Reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy
There’s no way in hell when you grew up that you thought that today you and I would be sitting with one another. If someone had told you that 30 years ago, you’d have said they were crazy, right? But here we are, and I am truly honored. Silence is not an option. For the record, I only crafted the first seven paragraphs. Those are my words.
The Power of Extemporaneous Speech
As he was speaking, Mia Jackson, the great gospel singer, shouted out to him, “Martin, tell them about the dream! Martin, tell them about your dream!” He slid a written text to the right of the podium, and I was standing behind him. What he began to do was take his right foot and rub it up against his left calf. Now, I’ve been around Baptist preachers so many times, and I also went to the Juilliard School of Music before law school. So, when I saw him do that, I turned to someone and said, “He is now going to begin to preach.” The rest of the so-called “I Have a Dream” speech was completely extemporaneous. That’s a gift.
Rabbi Joachim Prinz’s Role in Civil Rights
As great as the “I Have a Dream” speech is, what I admire about what you seek to do today is ironically similar to the speaker who spoke immediately before Dr. King: Rabbi Joachim Prinz. At the time, Rabbi Prinz was the president of the American Jewish Congress. Near the end of his speech, he said, “When I was a rabbi in Germany under Adolf Hitler, I remember many things, but the thing I most remember is the silence of the good people.” When he said that, you could have heard a pin drop.
Building Bridges and Combating Hate
You’ve developed a platform of credibility. What I hear, and the reason why this 93-year-old dude is sitting next to you, is because I do my homework. You have choices, and you are fortunate. This is another way of saying you don’t have to do this. That’s why I am so honored. If I can leave you with nothing else, it’s this: silence is the biggest enemy. The majority of Americans are good people; they need education. Our foundation has a huge ad campaign doing that. We’re making an ad for the Super Bowl and for Black History Month to educate people that they can’t be silent—they have to speak out.
The Bond of MLK Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Dr. King developed a relationship with a conservative Rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel. On Heschel’s 65th birthday, he wanted to bring Dr. King to the Catskills. When they walked into the large banquet hall, 750-800 rabbis began to sing “We Shall Overcome” in Hebrew. The two of them stood in the middle of the room and wept. They worked together, walked in Selma together, and were intimate friends. Dr. King once told me, “If you hear some garbage of anti-Semitism, challenge it. Tell the person this story.”
The Spill the Honey Foundation
Over a year and a half ago, I agreed to serve as chairman of the board of a foundation called The Spill the Honey Foundation. Founded by Dr. Sher Rogers and Lisa Weissman, we have been trying to tell the story of the Black-Jewish alliance. There’s a film featuring me, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Martin Luther King Jr. that will make you cry because it tells the truth. It shows the actual footage of Heschel walking arm in arm with Dr. King and includes interviews with Heschel’s daughter.
Remembering Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner
I’m thinking back to Meridian, Mississippi, when Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney were looking to register Black voters and were killed. Their bodies were discovered a year later, and that was the beginning of the Voting Rights Act. I became friends with Robert and Caroline Goodman, Andrew’s parents. They were so distraught before the boys were discovered that they asked if I would go to Meridian, Mississippi, quietly. They offered me $10,000 in cash to go. I had to check with Dr. King first, and he said it was okay. Just as I was preparing to go, they discovered the bodies.
The Jewish Contribution to the Civil Rights Movement
I said to Martin, “You are brilliant, but we’re only 12% of the population. We need a significant segment of the 88% to join us.” I saw some white people protesting with us and asked them why they were there. They said, “We’re here because my grandpa and grandma died in the Holocaust. This is what they would want me to do.” When I told Martin, he began to be more conscious of that and developed an extraordinary relationship with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. There’s no way we would have successfully passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Voting Rights Act of 1965 without the support of the Jewish community.
Conclusion: The Peril of Silence
The biggest evil today is silence. The same guys wearing those white hoods, the KKK, hate anyone who is different. Silence is the biggest enemy. The majority of Americans are good people; they just need education. Our foundation is working to educate people that they can’t be silent—they have to speak out.
