Letters: Apr. 26, 1968

Of King & Memphis

Sir: Most of the time I was indifferent to the Rev. Martin Luther King's activities. Occasionally I scoffed at his publicity, although I was unconsciously reassured that someone was doing something for humanity. But I cried at his murder. Possibly King's beautiful dream will ultimately result in his being remembered as a man, not a black man. The first step was taken as a thoughtful America united in mourning for a martyred leader. At any rate, our flag waved in a fellow American's memory.

MRS. JOHN VADNAIS St. Paul

Sir: As a Negro, I, too, must bear my share of the shame and horror of Dr. King's untimely death. Whether I burn or kill (by God's grace, I hope to do neither), I am associated with those who do. And we dare to point indiscriminate accusing fingers at whites. The answer to whether Dr. King labored in vain will not be determined alone by the success or failure of civil rights legislation or by improvement of housing and economic opportunities for minorities, but also by the degree to which all of us, blacks and whites, are committed to the pursuit and practice of nonviolence and love. Any commitment short of total is a farce.

(THE REV.) LEWIS P. BOHLER JR. Episcopal Church of the Advent Los Angeles

Sir: In the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, let Negro churches throughout America subscribe to a scholarship fund for bright, poor Negro youths. Let the middle-and upper-class Negro of America concentrate on the ghettos and talk to the boys and girls there, and let them know that there is a big world outside and they must aim for it. Let the American Negro have the courage to love, even where that love might not be returned. In short, I hope that the American Negro, in the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, will play it long, strong and very cool.

IVY M. ALLEN Kingston, Jamaica

Sir: Twice within five years, we had to hear from the land that all others strive to emulate, the harsh, frightening crack of an assassin's rifle. The shots that were echoing around the world after the death of John F. Kennedy, shaking the belief that the U.S.A. is the last place where the courage of an individual to fight against man's inhumanity to man would be met with the cruel bullet of an assassin, had hardly died away. And now Dr. King is dead, crucified on the cross hairs of a madman's telescopic sights. Yes, that is the excuse we give ourselves. It is the work of a demented individual. Perhaps if we repeat it often enough, we might even come to believe it.

P. SUDHIR

Madras, India

Sir: Now will the National Rifle Association and those reluctant Senators and Representatives yield the floor and recognize how desperately this country needs a gun-control law?

JACK HUGHES Kalamazoo, Mich.