MLK, Leadership….and Followership
Great leaders evolve, both themselves and their leadership and they help those who choose to follow them to evolve as well, as people and as co-creators of leadership. One test of a leader being just that, namely does s/he continue to foster your development. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. certainly did and, one can argue, still does do just that.
So, today, whether you watch Fox or NPR, take a few minutes to read the full transcript of Reverend Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech or to watch the full speech delivered. Revisit the context. Look out over the mixed throng of over 200,000 people. Consider how and why so many and different people ended up in one location, joined by a mission filled with values and carried by courage and organization.
The speech matters still because of what produced it, what flowed from it, AND because it is a remarkable, impactful and enduring piece of oratory. The speech offers lesson after lesson for anyone seeking to lead, including magnificent language and delivery forged in fiery trials and pointed forward... much of it improvised. Yes, improvised, flowing from MLK's life work, including countless sermons and speeches, but improvised... improvised in front of over 200,000 people and national TV audiences. As President John Kennedy, a 'fair' speaker in his own right observed to aides after watching the speech, the first Reverend King speech that he had viewed in its entirety: "He's damn good."
MLK was 'damn good' but he also needed help to be that good. Help needed offering. Help needed accepting, in this case on the spot and despite how easily MLK could ignore it -- given the pressures of the moment and the power of King's position.
Mahalia Jackson, a gospel based singer with other worldly content and of magisterial talent demonstrated the power of effective followership. She had just sung "I Been 'Buked' and I Been Scorned" as few ever could and welded together while re-energizing the diverse, sun addled crowd in painful, emotional honesty. She was not done, however.
She sat on a platform that had supported hours of only male speakers, save one. Speakers had respectfully named and praised female warriors and heroes in the civil rights movement, but almost only in male voices.That reality did not keep Ms. Jackson from finding her 'speaking' voice.
Mahalia Jackson completed her song and took her seat. King moved slowly and arguably lugubriously into his speech. Ms. Jackson grew increasingly concerned and raised her voice. She yelled out, 'Tell 'em about the dream, Martin'. King's improvisational trip into history started after that. He left the planned speech behind and stepped through a portal that his follower had helped to open for him, a portal both to be fully in as well as to transcend the moment.
Reverend King's view of the world continued to evolve. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He took the occasion to speak of his growing focus on poverty and its destructiveness for one and all. That growing focus would take him to Memphis in 1968, to a motel balcony on April 4 at 6:01 CST, and to a sniper's bullet: "There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it."
In closing, three quotes about what we share... or could.
James Baldwin states a basic emotional reality, as did Ms. Jackson with her singing--foundational human reality available for acknowledging, sharing, and unifying: "I don't think that any black person can speak of Malcolm and Martin without wishing that they were here." As a white person, I would respectfully join in the missing of their presence and in the celebration of the gifts they gave.
As for the service we might render, in memory and in hope, Mother Teresa offers perspective on why, perhaps especially in our times, to bother to provide one's service, as limited as it may be: “We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.”
Lastly, verses from 'I Been 'Buked and I Been Scorned'
'Children, I've been 'buked and I've been scorned
Tryin' to make this journey all alone'
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of and bore witness to the fact that it need not be that way, that it's up to us.
Should you wish to read other recent material of mine in the vein of this article, including various source references and links, then visit my website blog or more specifically:
Leading Toward, Not Fleeing From
Malcom X’s Birthday and the Personal Nature of Deep Change
Leadership, Hard Times & the Hard Work of Truth Telling
Personal Change Leadership in 2021 and the 130th Anniversary of Wounded Knee
Images as Fuel for Change
Resetting Language, Part 2
Setting the Context, Part 1
Leadership, Change, and the 19th Amendment