Martin Luther King Jr. on Blues and Jazz as Stepping Stones
Today, we honor the memory, legacy, and spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his commitment to Christian agape love, the enactment of which becomes the beloved community; for his steadfast allegiance to the realization of democratic ideals based on the nation’s founding and sacred documents; for his fidelity to truth and justice; for his love of the deep humanity of Black folk while never hating those who hated him and his cultural tribe.
Dr. King was prophetic and visionary, facing back and forward simultaneously. His social action, grounded in a sacred understanding of secular life through the beauty and power of the Black American church tradition, moved a people and a nation forward. Through the influence and counsel of mystic theologian Howard Thurman, King adapted the higher octave power of Gandhi's nonviolent movement, which had toppled the force of British colonialism, to challenge those all-too-comfortable with inhumane domination and oppression, thereby demonstrating courageous and heroic action in the world, inspiring millions across the globe.
His gift of eloquence, nurtured by the example of his father and other powerful ministers of the gospel, and his education at Morehouse and other institutions of higher learning, from the Black church to Boston University, was a melding of poetic beauty and blinding intelligence with the righteousness of a struggle then over a century long.
I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
—Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. King’s Synthesis of the Spiritual and Political via Music
In 1964, Dr. King wrote a short essay about the power of jazz music that appeared in the program of the Berlin Jazz Festival. For those familiar with our leadership emphasis on forthrightly facing the blues of life via the transcendent praxis of jazz, you’ll feel and hear familiar notes of insight, as filtered through the soulful mind of the man whose memory we celebrate today:
“God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.
Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.
This is triumphant music.
Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.
It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.
Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.
And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.
In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.”
May we honor him by being the best we can be, individually and collectively, so others near and far can also be encouraged and inspired to let light and love shine amidst the darkness and uncertainty before us.