On this day ... 

A Remington-Peters bullet, the kind that killed King.
 

5 April 1968

Dear brother,

The crackly short wave radio has just brought us the news of America’s heinous crime. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.
 I love my country and my heart is sorely touched, man.  How long, oh Lord?  Did the long, hot summer have to begin so soon?  Do we really think that the new muscle put into our police arsenal and the chemical guns we have built can save us?  Is our dollar going to save us? 

What is the way for a suppressed minority to gain equality?  Marx’s answer may be all right for an oppressed majority, but I think King’s genius was his answer for the oppressed minority.

Should we be willing to lay aside our tools we’re using in constructing the tower of Babel and get working on the task of first uniting us of many tribes and languages?  I think to us the building of the tower is more important than understanding people.  After all didn’t God give us precise instructions as He did Noah as to what He wants built? 

Why is evangelism slow?  Why is this accepting Christ so hard?  Fill the stadium.  Sing the song.  Hundreds come forward.  You are set for eternity.  Maybe the altar call ought to be about accepting people into your heart.  Creation into your heart.  That girl you like into your heart.  (Sorry, Betts.  I thought I had but I hadn’t).  You have to give up a lot to accept people, much more it seems than to accept Christ.  In fact accepting Christ is more or less a valuable cultural asset; you are richer in history and appreciation and have better tastes in culture, good connections.  But accepting the people of the highways and byways is quite another decision from what Billy Graham begs for.

I don’t know what a man in this decade should give his life to.  Certainly not to occupying an easy berth in a status quo institution.  Perhaps to being a prophet.  At least, to serious rethinking of our faith.  Only a few men are so great and privileged as King to live and die for so noble a cause.  No wonder severe rioting broke out in Chicago as a result of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. , resulting in severe damage, 11 deaths and over 2,000 arrests. Big deal? Not compared to one little year of Jim Crow. Two thousand arrests of people wishing King’s death wouldn’t begin to scratch the surface.

Sincerely yours, Glenn

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