We Shall Overcome: Gov. Walker's Hypocrisy on Display this MLK Day

Martin Luther King Jr. under arrest in 1958

In the ornate Wisconsin capitol rotunda last Monday afternoon, divisive Republican governor Scott Walker finally faced a political foe that he could not possibly vanquish:  the ghost of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The official annual state ceremony celebrates the inspiring life of that uncannily eloquent American, abbreviated simply MLK, who led the civil rights movement into the promised land of overdue voting rights & the abolition of inhumane racial segregation in the South.In his capacity as chief executive of state government, Walker was obliged to attend, but the irony of that union-busting enemy of public education presiding at the event was hard to ignore.  He opened the tribute with some uninspired remarks, a sharp contrast to the moving a capella    
gospel song that followed.

The baritone performer of that number was ethnomusicologist Dr. Jonathan Overby, executive producer of the ceremony as well as its diplomatic master of ceremonies.  Overby is also the longtime host of the Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) show Higher Ground.

Throughout the nearly two-hour ceremony, broadcast live via  WPR & WORT-FM Community Radio, religious & patriotic music alternated with appeals to God & mostly empty political rhetoric.  All the while a greybearded silent protestor in the gallery held up a stencilled sign asserting that "WAR IS AN ENEMY OF THE POOR."  Indeed, the ceremony was rather marred by militaristic tributes - one guest given special recognition was a black female Army general.  The anti-Vietnam War activist King would have grimaced.

It was dangerously cold outside, with below-zero wind chill temperatures, yet warm sunlight poured in through the skylights & windows surrounding the gold-leafed mural high in the dome overhead.  As full of contradictions as American society itself, the program featured the Kenosha Tremper High School Wind Ensemble performing "America the Beautiful" one minute and, the next, a speaker citing Mississippi activist Fannie Lou Hamer's outrage at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

"Is this America?" Hamer wondered aloud, after party officials denied her integrated group their rightful place at the electoral table.

The diversity & forbearance of the audience, however, encouraged me.  Nowadays it's rare to see so many children & adults of all ages & races attending a public event with a noble purpose.  It's even rarer to see people keeping their smartphones out of sight for so long.  I didn't notice a single person checking email or Facebook during the long MLK tribute.

"I've decided to stick with love," said the elderly African-American minister who gave the invocation, quoting Dr. King.  "Hate is too great a burden to bear."

Later, as the multi-racial University of Illinois Black Chorus led the singing of "We Shall Overcome" I nearly believed that the mean-spiritedness of self-serving politicians such as Walker would be as transitory as the hateful racist tactics of Alabama governor George Wallace proved to be in the 1960s.  That resonant anthem of the civil rights movement still engenders hope in a cynical dreamer like me.

On cue, a group of protesters draped a banner from the third-floor railing that read "JUSTICE 4 TONY."  It referred to the shooting of an unarmed mixed-race 17-year-old named Tony Robinson by a Madison police officer last March.  The small group stood silently throughout "We Shall Overcome" with arms raised in the black-power salute that has been in vogue again since the Black Lives Matter movement gained national traction in recent months.  Several white teenagers in the audience gave the salute in solidarity.

Perhaps the most salient speaker of the day was Aja Brown, 34-year-old mayor of Compton, California.  Brown appealed to young people, urging them to take political action now.  She noted that youth have always ignited historic change - far more often than their cautious elders.  Dr. King, for example, was just 25 when the Montgomery (AL) bus boycott started in 1955.  She suggested that responsible adults mentor young people who lack positive role models in violence-plagued communities.

"Do you plan to die with the baton in your hands?" Brown asked, decrying older leaders reluctant to cede power to the next generation of activists.

The MLK ceremony concluded, as most similar events now customarily do, with the recitation of a passage from Dr. King's August 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech.  This year the statewide honor went to precocious 12-year-old Zaria Roller, a budding actress, singer & pianist who attends Verona H.S. Exploration Academy.

Gesturing as she intoned the familiar prophetic words, Roller embodied well the theme of this 2016 MLK tribute ceremony:  Stand Up & Stand Out.

Scott Walker wore the bland mask of white male privilege as he issued an official proclamation declaring Monday (January 18, 2016) THE REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY throughout the state of Wisconsin, further "commend[ing] this observance to all of our citizens."  He seemed to be unaware of - or unconcerned by - his own hypocrisy in doing so.

"Power is the ability to achieve a purpose," explained Martin Luther King Jr.  In his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, King closed by paraphrasing the words of poet John Keats:  "Beauty is Truth / Truth Beauty."

Combining Mahatma Gandhi's moral force of non-violent resistance to tyranny with his own radical vision of an American society based on human need rather than corporate greed, Dr. King was a tragic hero who casts a long shadow over US history.  We ignore his message at our peril.