| Rev. C.T. Vivian to Keynote City-County King Holiday Observance: A Movement of the Ages |
Rev. C.T. Vivian was recently
elected vice president of the
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
elected vice president of the
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
By Jonathan Gramling
In the world view of Rev. C.T. Vivian, who was named executive vice-president of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference last week at the age of 87, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s work is like a
stone thrown in the middle of a pond. Long after the stone has disappeared from view, the impact of
that stone in the form of ripples in the water is felt and influence all who are near.
Vivian has a lot to be proud of. While he lived in Alabama, he implemented an educational support
program that eventually became the Upward Bound program. Vivian began participating in sit-ins in
Peoria, Illinois in 1947 and his activism never abated. Vivian was one of the original Freedom Riders
who were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi and joined Dr. King’s staff after the Albany, Georgia march
later that year.
Yet for all of his accomplishments, Vivian rarely mentions “I.” Instead, he always talks about the
impact that Dr. King had and neglects his own role in civil rights history as we talked by phone.
Since he became active in the movement in 1947, Vivian has seen a lot of change.
“The change is monumental,” Vivian exclaimed. “Here is a man that would have been arrested and put
in jail just for standing up for freedom and now, he is on the National Mall and the only non-president
on the Mall. It’s because he became the conscience of the nation. When you consider the changes,
there is not an area of life that has not been changed. Every institution in America has changed.
Education, religion, just name it, you can go down a list and every one of them has been changed by
the civil rights movement. To put it another way, you have to see that it was Martin’s movement that
changed it. That’s what everyone can think about. Another thing is his movement was different. His
In the world view of Rev. C.T. Vivian, who was named executive vice-president of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference last week at the age of 87, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s work is like a
stone thrown in the middle of a pond. Long after the stone has disappeared from view, the impact of
that stone in the form of ripples in the water is felt and influence all who are near.
Vivian has a lot to be proud of. While he lived in Alabama, he implemented an educational support
program that eventually became the Upward Bound program. Vivian began participating in sit-ins in
Peoria, Illinois in 1947 and his activism never abated. Vivian was one of the original Freedom Riders
who were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi and joined Dr. King’s staff after the Albany, Georgia march
later that year.
Yet for all of his accomplishments, Vivian rarely mentions “I.” Instead, he always talks about the
impact that Dr. King had and neglects his own role in civil rights history as we talked by phone.
Since he became active in the movement in 1947, Vivian has seen a lot of change.
“The change is monumental,” Vivian exclaimed. “Here is a man that would have been arrested and put
in jail just for standing up for freedom and now, he is on the National Mall and the only non-president
on the Mall. It’s because he became the conscience of the nation. When you consider the changes,
there is not an area of life that has not been changed. Every institution in America has changed.
Education, religion, just name it, you can go down a list and every one of them has been changed by
the civil rights movement. To put it another way, you have to see that it was Martin’s movement that
changed it. That’s what everyone can think about. Another thing is his movement was different. His
movement was about more than civil rights. It was a moral and spiritual movement. And there is nothing that hasn’t been changed. Some
of the movements hark back to the civil rights movement like the women’s movement and all of the legislation for women’s rights are
reasonably over the past 40 years are because of the civil rights movement. The elderly have found a way because we gave them a
method. One of the great things about Martin Luther King is that he gave us a method or the rest of it couldn’t have happened. Had he not
been willing to suffer through non-violence and training people in non-violent direct action — I don’t like to separate the two, non-violence
and direct action because it was non-violent direct action that created the social change — the change would not have occurred.”
Vivian sees the current Occupy movement, protesting the gap between the one percent and the 99 percent, as an outgrowth of the civil
rights movement, in many ways carrying on Dr. King’s Poor People’s March on Washington that was to occur the summer after he was
assassinated in 1968. But in his opinion, Occupy is missing some of the core components of Dr. King’s methods.
“In Martin Luther King’s last book, he talked about what had to be done to put an end to poverty,” Vivian said. “When you start to talk
about the issue like the movement about Occupy, what you are talking about is a part of Martin’s movement. It helps to show how out
front Martin was, how Martin created a new kind of action. They are non-violent, direct action. It is the strategy that makes the difference.
When the new group came on, they didn’t have the unity and they didn’t have a great leader. But that shows you the power of non-
violence. That shows you the power of non-violent direct action for the purpose of creating social change. Even without a Martin Luther
King, Occupy has caused the nation to come forth. If you notice, they don’t have a planned program for it. It is difficult to satisfy what they
want. But all of us know what the target is. All of us know that it is because of the difference between those at the top making 150 times
more than the employees on the floor.
“It’s interesting. We used to talk about poor people. Now we talk about the middle class suffering. Remember, we didn’t talk about the
middle class before being the recipient of the laws and methods that Martin Luther King brought forth. We do now. Why? Because we didn’
t really listen to Martin and as a result, the middle class is going down now. In other words, more people are in poverty than were in
poverty. The difference is because the middle class is diminished. If the nation had been listening to him, it is very clear, everything
Martin was talking about, we wouldn’t see the collapse of the middle class. In the attempt to stop it, non-violent direct action is being
used. It’s just that it isn’t being done as Martin designed it. And that is the important thing, King’s use of a moral and spiritual grounding
when there was a need for social change. It needs more than a legal grounding in order to do it.”
In Vivian’s view, it took this country 100 years to really give African Americans the right to vote. And now, the same old attitudes are
coming back, trying to reverse the gains of the past.
“It’s hard for people to see how the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave was not so free and not brave enough to let other people
be free,” Vivian emphasized. “Those changes have been made because of the civil rights movement. But if you notice right now, there
are political parties even trying to keep us from voting in various places in the country. They are keeping some of the same people from
voting that they did in the 1880s. They are using every kind of means that they can to keep us from voting. The law of the land is ‘one
person one vote.’ They are trying to make it so that you have to have special cards and go before particular authorities to get a card to
allow you to vote. It’s absurd. They are trying to push back against things that we’ve made a law and we have made a reality of
conscience. It isn’t just the Black people now. They are trying to keep the Latinos from voting and anyone else who isn’t white. Everything
that they are trying to change on voting comes out of a slave culture. Slavers are just different now. They are the politicians now and not
the slave owners. But it is still the same slave context, keeping certain rights away from people who they think are less than them. It won’
t be long before they are doing it to poor white people.”
The methods and the way are there for people to follow, the way that Dr. King laid out 50 years ago.
“To have the changes that are needed, people have to truly take democracy seriously for all people, for every citizen,” Vivian
emphasized. “Particularly this year, we have to make sure that we register every person possible because we can’t let these new
methods being used to stop us from voting and pushing us back to another time.”
Dr. C.T. Vivian is the keynote speaker at the 27th Annual City-County King Holiday Observance being held in the Overture Center’s Capitol
Theater on State Street on Monday, January 16th at 6 p.m. The event is free and all are encouraged to come.
of the movements hark back to the civil rights movement like the women’s movement and all of the legislation for women’s rights are
reasonably over the past 40 years are because of the civil rights movement. The elderly have found a way because we gave them a
method. One of the great things about Martin Luther King is that he gave us a method or the rest of it couldn’t have happened. Had he not
been willing to suffer through non-violence and training people in non-violent direct action — I don’t like to separate the two, non-violence
and direct action because it was non-violent direct action that created the social change — the change would not have occurred.”
Vivian sees the current Occupy movement, protesting the gap between the one percent and the 99 percent, as an outgrowth of the civil
rights movement, in many ways carrying on Dr. King’s Poor People’s March on Washington that was to occur the summer after he was
assassinated in 1968. But in his opinion, Occupy is missing some of the core components of Dr. King’s methods.
“In Martin Luther King’s last book, he talked about what had to be done to put an end to poverty,” Vivian said. “When you start to talk
about the issue like the movement about Occupy, what you are talking about is a part of Martin’s movement. It helps to show how out
front Martin was, how Martin created a new kind of action. They are non-violent, direct action. It is the strategy that makes the difference.
When the new group came on, they didn’t have the unity and they didn’t have a great leader. But that shows you the power of non-
violence. That shows you the power of non-violent direct action for the purpose of creating social change. Even without a Martin Luther
King, Occupy has caused the nation to come forth. If you notice, they don’t have a planned program for it. It is difficult to satisfy what they
want. But all of us know what the target is. All of us know that it is because of the difference between those at the top making 150 times
more than the employees on the floor.
“It’s interesting. We used to talk about poor people. Now we talk about the middle class suffering. Remember, we didn’t talk about the
middle class before being the recipient of the laws and methods that Martin Luther King brought forth. We do now. Why? Because we didn’
t really listen to Martin and as a result, the middle class is going down now. In other words, more people are in poverty than were in
poverty. The difference is because the middle class is diminished. If the nation had been listening to him, it is very clear, everything
Martin was talking about, we wouldn’t see the collapse of the middle class. In the attempt to stop it, non-violent direct action is being
used. It’s just that it isn’t being done as Martin designed it. And that is the important thing, King’s use of a moral and spiritual grounding
when there was a need for social change. It needs more than a legal grounding in order to do it.”
In Vivian’s view, it took this country 100 years to really give African Americans the right to vote. And now, the same old attitudes are
coming back, trying to reverse the gains of the past.
“It’s hard for people to see how the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave was not so free and not brave enough to let other people
be free,” Vivian emphasized. “Those changes have been made because of the civil rights movement. But if you notice right now, there
are political parties even trying to keep us from voting in various places in the country. They are keeping some of the same people from
voting that they did in the 1880s. They are using every kind of means that they can to keep us from voting. The law of the land is ‘one
person one vote.’ They are trying to make it so that you have to have special cards and go before particular authorities to get a card to
allow you to vote. It’s absurd. They are trying to push back against things that we’ve made a law and we have made a reality of
conscience. It isn’t just the Black people now. They are trying to keep the Latinos from voting and anyone else who isn’t white. Everything
that they are trying to change on voting comes out of a slave culture. Slavers are just different now. They are the politicians now and not
the slave owners. But it is still the same slave context, keeping certain rights away from people who they think are less than them. It won’
t be long before they are doing it to poor white people.”
The methods and the way are there for people to follow, the way that Dr. King laid out 50 years ago.
“To have the changes that are needed, people have to truly take democracy seriously for all people, for every citizen,” Vivian
emphasized. “Particularly this year, we have to make sure that we register every person possible because we can’t let these new
methods being used to stop us from voting and pushing us back to another time.”
Dr. C.T. Vivian is the keynote speaker at the 27th Annual City-County King Holiday Observance being held in the Overture Center’s Capitol
Theater on State Street on Monday, January 16th at 6 p.m. The event is free and all are encouraged to come.