Tavis Smiley with David Ritz. Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2014.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
There are several surprises in Tavis Smiley’s account of Dr. King’s final year. By the time of his assassination, ¾ of the American people had turned against him and 57% of his own people considered him to be irrelevant. 1967-8 was a living hell for him as he saw his pleas for non-violence all-but-disregarded. Distinguished black leaders turned against him, including Whitney Young of the Urban League, Roy Wilkens of the NAACP, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, and lawyer/jurist Thurgood Marshall. King was continuously a target of the FBI, which viewed him as an instigator and a communist. The LBJ administration, which had worked closely with him in the civil rights and voting rights movements, became his adversary as the Reverend expanded his attacks against social injustice into territory “where he did not belong.”
The widespread hostility, the constant unraveling of the non-violence movement, and the frustration of being repeatedly scorned took a great emotional and psychological toll on Dr. King, causing him to sink into periods of deep depression. His friends and close associates recommended that he seek psychotherapeutic assistance, but he refused, knowing that the FBI would somehow gather his records in order to “besmirch” his character.
This biography has some unusual stylistic choices; the author refers to King almost exclusively as “Doc,” a moniker used by his closest friends and associates; and since much of the detail in this biography is based on interviews with these people, the author felt compelled to use the nickname—perhaps to give a sense of intimacy. Additionally, Smiley takes the reader into MLK’s mind to sort through the many issues that complicated his life: loyalty to his family, support for the warring Negro factions, even the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Council), endorsement of all causes for the poor and for racial equality, and the rejection of all forms of violence. Smiley’s accounts of King’s internal monologues are obviously fictional, but they are based upon the knowledge provided through interviews with his intimate friends and advisors.
Exactly one year before his assassination, Dr. King, speaking at Riverside Church in New York City, criticized America’s involvement in the war in Vietnam. He believed that to be silent was to betray all that he believed in, for the U.S. government “…is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today….” He believed that war “…is married to the immorality of poverty and racism.” “The Great Society [of LBJ] with its very noble programs, in a sense has been shot down on the battlefields of Vietnam.” The ultimate sign of the immorality of the government was the increase in war spending and the reduction of funds for addressing poverty.
When people claimed that the “white backlash” to civil rights and poverty occurred because of rioting and looting in several major cities, King replied that the violence was in fact the reaction to the white backlash. Violence, looting, and rioting were “…the suicidal and irrational acts which plague our streets…. [they were] being sowed and watered by the irrational, irrelevant, and equally suicidal debate and delays in Congress.” The disturbances in the ghetto are “the externalization of the Negro’s inner torment and rage.”
Yet despite his own anger and frustration, and the demands for violent behavior that surrounded him, King always spoke for peaceful actions—for finding the loveable qualities in all people. His final quest for peace led to his violent death—death which he knew was imminent. He went to Memphis to support the striking garbage workers of that city. He encountered a barrier of opposition: misinformation planted by the FBI, hatred spewed in the newspapers and by local politicians, and strong calls for violence even from those he was supporting. However, he went, speaking passionately for peace and justice—and was murdered.
Smiley sees MLK as a great American hero, not merely “an idealistic dreamer to be remembered for a handful of fanciful speeches.” He was a man who saw past many opposing forces, who spoke out against the outrageous “three-legged monster”– racism, poverty, and militarism—that was crippling the country and leading to open revolution. And he never allowed his hopes, his visions for a united, peaceful, equal society to be crushed by fears of opposition, or even death. He took great solace in his having been to the mountaintop, and in having seen the promised land.
Ted Odenwald and his wife, Shirley have lived in Oakland for 44 years. He taught HS English at Glen Rock High School for all of those years plus one more. Now he is enjoying time spent with his family, singing in the North Jersey Chorus and quenching his wanderlust. Ted is also the Worship Leader at the Ramapo Valley Baptist Church in Oakland.