25th March. Martin Luther King stands on a flatbed truck at the foot of the steps leading up to the Capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama, addressing a crowd of more than 25,000 people. As before, we see only the small group closest to him, below, which includes John Lewis and Coretta Scott King, thirty-seven, handsome and elegant. Again, King’s speech is punctuated with cries of empathy and encouragement from the crowd.
King Last Sunday, more than eight thousand of us started on a mighty walk from Selma, Alabama. They told us we wouldn’t get here. There were those who told us we would get here only over their dead bodies, but all the world today knows that we are here and we are standing before the forces of power in the state of Alabama saying: ‘We ain’t goin’ let nobody turn us around.’
Now, it is not an accident that one of the great marches of American history should terminate in Montgomery, Alabama. Just ten years ago, in this very city, a new philosophy was born of the Negro struggle. Out of this struggle, more than bus desegregation was won; a new idea, more powerful than guns or clubs, was born. The method of non-violent resistance was unsheathed from its scabbard and an entire community was mobilised to confront the adversary. And so Selma, Alabama has become a shining moment in the conscience of man. If the worst in American life lurked in its dark streets, the best of American instincts arose passionately from across the nation to overcome it. There never was a moment in American history more honourable and more inspiring than the pilgrimage of clergymen and laymen of every race and faith pouring into Selma to face danger at the side of its embattled Negroes.
The confrontation of good and evil compressed in the tiny community of Selma generated the massive power to turn the whole nation to a new course. A president born in the South had the sensitivity to feel the will of the country and, in an address that will live in history as one of the most passionate pleas for human rights ever made by a president of our nation, he pledged the might of the Federal Government to cast off the centuries-old blight. President Johnson rightly praised the courage of the Negro for awakening the conscience of the nation.
On our part we must pay our profound respect to the white Americans who cherish their democratic traditions over the ugly customs and privileges of generations and come forth boldly to join hands with us. And I stand before you this afternoon with the conviction that segregation is on its deathbed in Alabama, and the only thing uncertain about it is how costly the segregationists and Wallace will make the funeral.
Our whole campaign in Alabama has been centred around the right to vote. And the battle is in our hands. The battle is in our hands in Mississippi and Alabama and all over the United States. I know there is a cry today in Alabama, we see it in numerous editorials: ‘When will Martin Luther King and all of these civil rights agitators and all of the white clergymen and labour leaders and students and others get out of our community and let Alabama return to normalcy?’
I have a message that I would like to leave with Alabama this evening. It was normalcy in Mississippi that led to the killing of three civil rights workers last summer; it was normalcy in Marion that led to the brutal murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson; it was normalcy in Birmingham that led to the murder on a Sunday morning of four, beautiful, unoffending, innocent girls; it was normalcy on Highway 80 that led State Troopers to use tear gas and horses and billy clubs against unarmed human beings who were simply marching for justice; it was normalcy by a café in Selma, Alabama, that led to the brutal beating of Reverend James Reeb.
It is normalcy all over our country which leaves the Negro perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. It is normalcy all over Alabama that prevents the Negro from becoming a registered voter. No, we will not allow Alabama to return to normalcy.
The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy of brotherhood, the normalcy of true peace, the normalcy of justice. The end we seek is a society that can live with its conscience. And that will be a day not of the white man, not of the black man. That will be the day of man as man.
I know you are asking today: ‘How long will it take?’ ‘How long will justice be crucified and truth bear it?’
I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth crushed to earth will rise again.
How long? Not long, because no lie can live for ever.
How long? Not long, because you shall reap what you sow.
How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
How long? Not long, because:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
He has souh!nded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgement seat.
O, be swift my soul to answer him! Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah!
Glory, halleluja
Glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
Massive applause. Eventually, King steps down and embraces Coretta. Lewis, a small white bandage still protecting his skull, shakes hands with him.
Hard-hitting enough for you, John?
Lewis It was a great speech, Martin.
King Thank you, but I’m afraid a lot of your people are going to say: too little, too late. You’re going to be needing to watch your back.
Coretta Look at all the Church people here, Martin. This just may be the greatest witness since the days of the early Christians.
King Let’s not exaggerate …
Coretta Daddy just said to me: ‘This is the greatest day for Negroes in the history of America.’
King I improvised a little at the end there, was that OK?
Coretta Superb. I’m just so sorry I didn’t bring the children, I should have …
She’s interrupted by the arrival of an attractive redhead of thirty-nine, Viola Liuzzo, who stretches out her hand to a rather surprised King.
Vi Dr King, I just wanted to say to you, I’ll never forget that speech, as long as I live.
King Well, thank you …
Vi My name’s Vi Liuzzo, I drove down from Detroit to do whatever I could to help out.
King That’s a long drive.
Vi Soon as I saw those television pictures from Selma, I thought I had to come down and volunteer and do anything I could to make myself useful.
King So what have you …?
Vi Oh, driving between here and Selma with anyone who needs a ride, picking people up from the airport, helping out at the first-aid station, you know, putting Band-Aids on blisters, handing out lotion for sunburn.
King Well, we couldn’t have done what we’ve done without people like you.
Vi My husband’s a Teamster: he said, go do what you have to, I’ll look after the kids.
King How many do you have?
Vi Five.
King One better than us. This is Mrs King, by the way.
Vi and Coretta shake hands, Coretta with some reserve. For a moment it seems as if Vi is going to move away: then she turns back to King.
Vi I hope you don’t mind, I wanted to …
King What?
Vi Please don’t think I’m crazy. I’m kind of noted for this, all my friends and family will tell you: I have premonitions.
King Really.
Vi Yes, and this morning I had the strongest premonition ever. Of evil. It was like an anxiety attack, I was having trouble breathing. And I said to this Irish priest I was with, Father Deasy, I said, I feel as sure as can be someone’s going to be killed today.
King Well, we get threats, death threats most every day, Mrs …
Vi Liuzzo.
King Mrs Liuzzo, we’re used to them. We just try to put them out of our minds.
Vi It wasn’t you, Dr King, it wasn’t you I thought was going to be killed: in fact, the person who came into my head was Governor Wallace. Seemed to me somebody might kill him, so the marchers would get blamed …
King I don’t think you need to worry your head about that, Mrs Liuzzo. George Wallace isn’t going to show his face any time today, I can guarantee you of that.
Coretta We need to be moving along, Mrs Liuzzo.
Vi Of course, yes, I’m sorry, I just thought …
King We appreciate all your help and concern, Mrs Liuzzo. Try not to worry. And we are really grateful to you, like I said, we couldn’t go on without people like you.
Vi Thank you, Dr King, that means the world to me …
King shakes her hand warmly and she slips back into the crowd. Coretta watches her go, troubled.
Coretta Have you met her before?
King No. I don’t think so. No. Why?
Coretta looks away for a moment, hesitating: then she decides to go ahead.
Coretta I didn’t want to tell you before your speech, but the office in Atlanta passed a package along to me.
King A package?
Coretta A tape.
All of a sudden, she has his complete attention.
They passed it along to me, because they thought it was one of your speeches, so they … passed it along to me for my archive.
King Yes?
Coretta It was posted from Miami. No one noticed there was a letter with it, a kind of a letter, anonymous, really sick and disgusting, one of the worst I’ve seen …
King And the tape? What was on the tape?
She looks at him for a long moment. He’s terrified. She makes a clear decision.
Coretta I don’t know. I couldn’t tell. Strange noises. Really just a lot of mumbo-jumbo. You better listen to it when you get back to Atlanta.
King Yes.
Coretta Are we going back tonight?
King Well … I don’t know …
Coretta I think we should. We have to make a decision on that house. We have less than a week.
King I don’t see why we have to own a house, Coretta. What’s wrong with renting?
Coretta Listen, I knew you were going to give all the Nobel money away, I completely respect that decision, I know you as good as paid for this entire march out of your own pocket: but it really is time we had somewhere of our own.
King But it’s such a big house. And ten thousand dollars …
Coretta It isn’t so big. And we have four growing children. They need somewhere to play. A garden. You’re away all the time. We need somewhere to be; I need it, if you’re going to spend so much time … away.
They look at each other. Eventually, King lowers his head.
King You’re right. You deserve it. It’s the least I can do.