M.L. King And Malcolm X Daughters Encourage Chattanoogans At Memorial Auditorium

To make the country and world better for all people, non-violence and strategizing need to be used more effectively, the daughters of two noted civil rights leaders of yesteryear told a Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium audience Friday.

Dr. Bernice King, a lawyer and director of the King Center in Atlanta and 60-year-old daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., believes that non-violence should even be a subject of study and is the best way to stomp out such evils as racism and oppression.

“I believe non-violence is the only pathway,” she said, saying that light is the only way to fight the darkness of the world. “We are all in this world together and must find a way to coexist.”

She pointed out that non-violence instruction taught through the King Center has even helped people’s marriages.

“If we want to make change, we have to come together and address the challenges,” she said.

The two women, who were praised by organizers as being quite accomplished, spoke at the 11^th annual UTC MLK Day 2024 celebration early Friday afternoon in front of about 400-plus who filled a good part of the front of the lower seating area.

In articulated and motivational styles that gave off hints of their familial connections to the two men who were both known for their public speaking skills, the two speakers spent nearly an hour answering roughly a half dozen questions.

In a seated format moderated by UTC Vice Chancellor Stacy Lightfoot and UTC Student Government Association President Chamyra Teasley, they were asked about the influence of their parents and the gains made since their fathers’ time.

Dr. King, who was five when her father was assassinated in Memphis, said she grew up angry and with hate due to what happened with her father and even her paternal grandmother being shot and killed in 1974. She said she even hit and injured someone one time, realizing that is not how a daughter of a man who preached non-violence was supposed to act. “I started hating all white people,” she said.

But then about 2000, she was in the middle of an interview with a white evangelical leader, and he asked her if he could give her a hug of compassion. That and her work with the King Center in carrying on the mission of her father first established tirelessly by her late mother, Coretta Scott King, changed her.

“It opened me up to a whole other space,” she said. “It helped me find my way to channel the anger into something more positive.”

Dr. Shabazz, who was less than three and in attendance at the Audubon Ballroom in upper Manhattan when her father was assassinated in 1965, said her mother, Betty Shabazz, was amazing in continuing to raise her and several siblings in a positive way after his death. She even strongly encouraged female achievement, she said.

She said her father was the subject of negative attacks in his day, but added, “He believed in humanity and that America should live up to its promise.”

Dr. King said her father’s legacy has been somewhat sanitized today, saying that his famous line about people being judged not by the color of their skin did not mean a colorblind society in a literal sense. “My father did not believe in a colorblind world. He wanted us to eradicate racism in all its forms,” she said.

She added that while big steps were taken in the civil rights struggle during her father’s time, more incremental steps have been taken since, and issues like poverty-related homelessness have not been solved.

In one of the uplifting moments of the panel discussion, Dr. King pointed out that the country had advanced greatly in many ways, noting that the large mixture of black and white people and others in attendance would not have been allowed in her father’s time.

But she said what she considered some backward steps have been taken in recent years, such as limiting voting rights and banning certain books.

“We are not where we once were, but we could be if we keep sleeping on it,” she said.

Dr. Shabazz said she had a conversation with a Chattanoogan while flying into town and he told her about a lynching on the Walnut Street Bridge more than 100 years ago. She was insinuating that maybe the person thought much progress had been made in the years since, but she indicated plenty can still be done to make America whole as a society.

“Progress is in healing the wounds that made the problem,” she said.

The two also pointed out that while many considered Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King sort of adversarials opposed in theological outlook and ways to achieve civil rights, the two said both Dr. King and Malcolm X liked and respected each other. And their families were and have been close. And that should be how people look at improving the plight of the disenfranchised, they said.

“There is nothing we can do alone to achieve the larger goal,” said Dr. Shabazz.

In a lighter moment at the start, both Dr. King and Dr. Shabazz asked if fellow members of their different sororities were in attendance, and claps and cheers came in reply.

Also offering opening and welcoming remarks were Chancellor Steve Angle and fellow UTC administrators Dr. Tara Mathis and Christopher Stokes. Dr. Angle asked the audience in keeping with the theme of civil rights for all and Dr. King’s dream, “What will our legacy be? How will we ensure everyone is welcome?”

The program was nearly 30 minutes late in starting, but Dr. Mathis apologized and said that with weather-related changes in the schedules, the two speakers had squeezed in a meeting and gathering with about 50 students from Girls Preparatory School beforehand.

Officials also said some 300 students from Hamilton County Schools were to attend, but they did not after school was canceled due to the winter weather.

Dr. Bernice King was also speaking on the same stage at Memorial Auditorium where her father had once spoken in 1960 and 1962. In the early 1950s, he had also interviewed as a young minister for the pastorate of the still-standing First Baptist Church, East Eighth Street, just a couple of blocks away. The Rev. H.H. Battle, who was older, was instead called as pastor.

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Jcshearer2@comcast.net