WEBVTT - What Would King Do? 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:15.480 On Theme is a production of iHeartRadio and Fairweather Friends Media. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:22.520 As every Black History Month, we hear about the accomplishments 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:23.160 of black. 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:27.200 Folks from George Washington, Carver, Madam, C. J. Walker, Rosa Parks, 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:31.840 made Jemison to Malcolm x, Astata Shakur, even Ben Carson. 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:33.080 He may history too. 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.280 The list goes on, But there's one person who gets 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:40.159 shouted out the most. One person whose childhood home is 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.320 an annual field trip for every child in the metro 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:44.360 Atlanta area. 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.520 One person who has his own federal holiday and statues 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:49.760 across the United States. 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.800 A Moorhouse man, a man of Alpha Phi Alpha. He 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.560 had a dream, his eyes had seen the mountaintop. Of course, 0:00:57.720 --> 0:00:59.520 we're talking about Martin Luther King. 0:00:59.680 --> 0:00:59.960 Jumna. 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:02.960 Our guest today on Meet the Press is doctor Martin 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:04.040 Luther King, Jr. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.880 Who led the Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabamama. 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.920 I'm Eves and I'm Katie. Today's episode what would King Do? 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:25.280 King looms large in the story of America. He was 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.119 a gadfly to America's vulturous ways. 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.319 He dreamed of a better world, and he spent the 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:35.039 majority of his life working toward creating it until. 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.560 Doctor Martin Luther King, the apostle of nonviolence in the 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:45.840 civil rights movement, has been shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee. 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:49.960 Since his death, Martin Luther King's radical message has been 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:54.480 defaned and repackaged and repurposed in some really strange ways. 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:57.760 President Ronald Reagan evoked a line from King's I Have 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.680 a Dream speech while opposing affirmative action, and in nineteen 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:06.200 eighty six speech, Reagan said, quote, we want a colorblind society, 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:08.959 a society that, in the words of doctor King, judges 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.240 people not by the color of their skin, but by 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:12.920 the content of their character. 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:16.720 In twenty twenty one, former Speaker of the House Kevin 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:21.040 McCarthy tweeted, critical race theory goes against everything Martin Luther 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:22.239 King Junior taught us. 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.239 So he's conjuring up Martin Luther King Junior to prove 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:31.960 that kids shouldn't learn about Martin Luther King Junior. Okay, Oh, and. 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:33.119 He's not the only one. 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.880 While introducing legislation that would allow parents to sue schools 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:40.680 teaching critical race theory in the classroom, Florida Governor Ron 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.639 Desantist said, quote, you think about what MLK stood for 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.240 He said he didn't want people judged on the color 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:49.680 of their skin, but on the content of their character. 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:53.000 You've listened to some of these people nowadays. They don't 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:54.560 talk about that. 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.519 That's their favorite little quote. But white conservatives aren't the 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.720 only culprits speaking of Ben Carson. Ease, come on up 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.359 to the front, doctor cosson this. 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:10.120 Whole identity politics stuff is poisonous. You know, if Martin 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:13.440 Luther King, Doctor Martin Luther King were here today, he 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:17.640 would be absolutely offended. You know, he wanted people to 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.280 be judged by the character and not by the color 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:20.880 of their skin. 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.480 That was Ben Carson reacting to Vermont prioritizing black people 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:28.200 during their COVID vaccine rollout. 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.000 Yeah, let's just ignore that black people were more likely 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.880 to be hospitalized and die from COVID and quote doctor 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:35.000 King out of context. 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:36.760 Good plan, girl. 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:38.960 People will be bringing up doctor King for the most 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:43.000 random stuff. I found a New York Daily News article 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.760 from twenty eleven about a lady who was selling shirts 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.360 that said pull your pants up. The article reads, the 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.600 Jamaica Queen's Resident considers the all too popular low slunk 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.360 pants style and a front to parents, teachers, anxiety and 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.160 an insult to the legacy of slain civil rights leader 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.440 doctor Martin Luther. And a direct quote from the woman 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.600 selling these shirts says, if our children today could get 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:09.720 to understand the dream of doctor King, they would not 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.160 be doing what they are doing by wearing these pants. 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.000 It's like an American tradition to ask what what King do? 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.880 But the thing is, King did tell us who he was, 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.360 what he was about, what he would do. 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:28.320 I own to hope today lies in our ability to 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:32.880 recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:40.360 hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.039 He was a revolutionary. He stood with the poor and 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:48.680 against militarism. And forgive me for stating the obvious, King 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:50.320 was against racism. 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.839 Hot take, But was that being said? It's also important 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.440 to remember that King, like all of us, was flawed. 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:01.080 He made mistakes, and he said things that really didn't 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:01.719 age well. 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.000 He was influenced by the patriarchal society in which he 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.839 was reared, and he showed us as plain as day. 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.920 In his nineteen fifties monthly Ebony magazine column, advice for living. 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:17.680 His advice on topics like marital infidelity, colorism, and homosexuality 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.960 is a time capsule of how ingrained sexism and misogyny 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.120 were in everyday life and perpetuated by most of our 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:25.000 respected leaders. 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.080 We'll hear what Martin Luther King would have done from 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:30.719 the man himself after the break. 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:40.920 I first learned about Martin Luther King's advice column in 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.400 twenty eighteen when Michael Denzel Smith wrote about it in 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:46.840 The Atlantic. I was fascinated. All the facts I learned 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.120 about King throughout school and this never came up. 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.080 Yeah, this advice column was not included in the curriculum, 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:54.560 so tell me more about it. 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.280 In the summer of nineteen fifty seven, King accepted an 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.880 invitation to write the column from Larene Bennett, a fellow 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.719 Morehouse graduate and associate editor of Ebony Magazine. In the 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.640 September fifth, nineteen fifty seven issue of Ebony's sister publication Jet, 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.960 an advertisement for King's forthcoming Advice for a Living column 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.120 recommended that readers let demand that let the Montgomery Boycott 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:16.520 lead you into happier living. 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:22.040 Interesting ad copy What you mean, I'm not sure him 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:25.680 leading the Montgomery bus Boycott qualifies him to lead people 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.360 into happier living, but I will suspend my disbelief until 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:30.520 I hear what he has to say. 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.280 I mean, you know, let me just read some of 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:41.640 these questions. According to Stanford University's archive, Ebney magazine was 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.480 flooded with advice seekers wanting to hear from the young activists. 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.960 This question comes from a wife with a tyrannical husband. 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:49.680 She writes, My. 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.400 Husband is one of the pillars of the church. He 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:56.720 attends all the services and contributes generously to all church activities, 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:01.160 but when he comes home he changes completely complete tyrant 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:04.520 At home he seems to hate me and the children too. 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:07.720 What can I do? He was once a good man. 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.000 Okay, what did king say? 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:12.880 So he came in a little high. 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.720 First, he said, I would suggest that you analyze the 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.400 whole situation and see if there's anything within your personality 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:24.679 that arouses this tyrannical response from your husband. 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:25.920 Not putting the onus on her. 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.280 Yeah, not the greatest start, but I don't think the 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:34.000 rest of the answer was that bad. So he continues, Second. 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:36.480 You should sit down and patiently talk over the whole 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:40.760 matter with your husband, showing him the unhappiness and disharmony 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.600 that he's bringing within the whole family. Third, since your 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.800 husband is a devout churchman, you may consider counseling with 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:52.040 your minister on this problem, and he could probably say 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.400 things to both of you that would restore the balance 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:55.640 and stability of the home. 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:58.160 So I feel like there was a lot that was 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.200 unsaid in this question, and and it seems like the 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.000 person who's asking this question is being very meek about 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.120 it because hate is a very strong word and that 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:10.000 doesn't go well with seams. You can't seem to hate somebody. 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:14.480 So I'm really wondering what's actually happening in the household. 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.040 And I think that's something that King just kind of 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:21.000 like skipped over, and he jumped straight to the assumption 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.800 that it's something that she did and that it's something 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.920 that needs to be discussed in terms of like whose 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:32.480 responsibility it was. So I think if he seems to 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.280 hate her, I would imagine that she probably has talked 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:37.360 to him about this before. I would guess like it 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:39.520 might have come up at some point, or she might 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:43.000 have tried to address it in different ways beforehand. So 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:45.240 I feel like there needs to be some sort of 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.840 third party involved already, like there needs to be some 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:49.400 sort of mediator. 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:50.280 Which he suggests the minister. 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:54.960 Yes, but I also have an issue with that too because. 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:56.040 Like Ali was in the church, so he's probably gonna 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:57.280 be on the man side exactly. 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.960 And also it's often known that you know, ministers do 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.360 often try to act as psychologists or therapists to people 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:07.200 when that's not their job. And of course they have 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.280 certain biases in the advice that they're going to give. 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.080 And yes, there's a personal connection. 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.560 So I mean like a true third party, a neutral 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.600 party exactly, a true third party. That's probably very rare 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.400 in the fifties, especially black families, for them to go 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.000 to therapists. Yeah, I feel like that's the only true 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.240 neutral third party we can have because you can't bring 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:31.600 your friend into your family because they also have that bias. 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:33.520 Yeah, and you're not just going to get a random 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:38.040 person off the street, So they can't go to the 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:39.560 internet and just put a pole up. 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:41.640 Yeah, they can't go on ready and people say, by 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.120 the asshole. So yeah, I feel like that would be 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.320 very rare. So I don't know if that would be 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:51.520 like typical advice you would give in context of the 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:55.080 time period and how black folks was moving during that time. 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.280 I also think that it's tough without the context, which 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.520 is why that's where I started, because I don't know 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.559 how if he hates her and the children, he could 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.640 be a dangerous person. So I don't know what coming 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.360 to him and being like, hey, you've been doing this, 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.480 it's really hurting us, Like how can you change yourself? 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:15.400 How that'll come off with him, Like if he would 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:18.280 respond violently, if he would erupt in any sort of 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.760 way to her asking that question. Because if she's gotten 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:23.800 to a point where she's asking an esteemed person who 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.800 she doesn't know personally for advice, I would guess my 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:30.320 assumptions would be one she might have already tried to 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.160 talk to him about it, or two, she can't talk 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.319 to him about it because he won't receive it well 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:40.520 and won't be able to have a conversation with her 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:43.440 in any sort of civil way. So it's hard for 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.280 me to give advice if if it's not possible to 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:48.520 see a therapist, or if it's difficult to find a 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:52.280 neutral third party and it's difficult to talk to him, 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.240 it is a pretty tough question. 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:59.679 Yeah, and a hallmark of these advice columns, which we 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.760 talked about in the Princess Mysterious episode A Shapeless plug. 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.680 That part of the gag was you were just supposed 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.640 to say, like get a divorce, breakup because it's like 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.280 that's not fun, Like we're just to work it out. 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:17.040 And when she says he seems to hate her, I 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.280 took that as like, you know how men just be 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:23.040 with women they don't like. Yeah, that's what I took 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:26.560 it as, like he don't like me, but you know 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:29.360 I cook and clean and pop out babies. 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.640 Now see, I can't agree with you there because the 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:35.080 children are brought into it, and when you seem like 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:37.040 you hate children, that's a different type. 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:38.800 So he hates the whole family. 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:40.400 And I think what ri you're saying is like he 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:42.400 just he resents being in the situation he's in. 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:43.400 He don't really want to be. 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:45.959 Yeah, but we don't want to be family possible. He 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:50.280 has like some animis and we don't know. 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:52.480 Though, because she don't she didn't tell us exactly. 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:57.960 What I'm psychoanalyzing him. Now, Okay, all right, they're nineteen fifties, 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:02.760 they're black. Pepeople were assuming, which I'm sure they are 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:06.120 reading up any magazine and writing into doctor King. I 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:08.719 just read The Fire next time, and James Baldwin was 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.400 talking about his dad and how he was so mean 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:13.760 because he believed what white people said about him. So 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.240 if you just have like white people are your neck 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:19.920 all day during Jim Crow as a man, and then 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.000 you come into the house and that's the place you 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:25.640 have dominion over some people, some men are going to 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.000 act a fool just because they can't act fool with Whitey. 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:31.520 Down at the job, they call you boy. They drop 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:32.719 the stuff on the floor so you can go pick 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.839 it up, So you gotta come in ready to be 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.560 a man. And to you, that's showing aggression because you 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:41.880 have all this pinned up aggression from your life outside 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:45.480 the home. So I think that's what she is referring to. 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.800 She's like, I think he hates me the kids because 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.480 that's who he has quote unquote control over, and so 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:56.199 that's who he's like giving all his like mean feelings towards. 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:01.680 That's one educated guess why he's acting the way he's acting. 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:05.840 And I think it's telling because King is a minister 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:09.079 at this point too, And the first thing he says 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:11.120 is what you done did to this man? 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.719 Okay, So either way it goes even if it is 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.840 this hypothetical that you've built up, girl, you know, built 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.120 up the theory, or if it is what King says, 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.160 where it's something she did to him, he's still the problem. 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.400 No, I'm saying him saying like, oh, like you need 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:27.800 to look within yourself. It's kind of a clue of 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.160 what his last point was with going to your minister 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:33.760 and talking like the minister at their church is probably 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:35.920 just going to flip it back on her too. So 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:40.120 she's really in like a tough situation, like maybe he 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.200 is the type of guy her husband just super not 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:45.720 self aware and being like, hey, you're making our lives 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.520 a living hell? Can you stop that? Like maybe he'll 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:51.080 change his ways, but probably not. 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.120 No, because it has to have been happening for quite 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.160 some time if she's gotten to the point about it, 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.480 so yeah, yeah, it's probably at a critical point right now. Yeah, 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.200 And it's been festering for a minute, like it's been 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.640 sitting there building up. It's something that's been happening between 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:07.880 the two of them. But the thing is, if she's 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.280 writing in she wants to stay with him, but girl. 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:13.320 I guess we need to address the fact that she 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:14.800 said he wants a good. 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:15.680 Man too, y. 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.920 Onto that memory, and so there is some work that 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:21.880 can be done. I guess advice that can be given 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.680 to her too to like honestly evaluate who he is 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.000 in the present and she actually wants to be with 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:32.480 him in this moment, right, So maybe it is like okay, 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:34.800 instead of there is a conversation that needs to be 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:38.400 had with the question asker that's not like what did 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:40.840 you do, but is instead like is this what you want? 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:42.240 And who is he? 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:49.160 Okay, Doctor King, come with it, Doctor Eve, Okay, more 0:14:49.200 --> 0:15:02.080 of King's advice. After the break, we're back with another 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.240 question from Advice for Living, and Doctor King's answer might 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.760 surprise you. This is from a woman asking about birth 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:09.160 controls morality. 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.400 She asks, we have seven children and another one is 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.520 on the way. Our four room apartment is busting at 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:20.000 the seams, and living space in Harlem is at a premium. 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.320 I have suggested to my husband that we practice birth control, 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.640 but he says that when God thinks we have enough children, 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.040 he will put a stop to it. I've tried to 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:32.040 reason with him, but he says that birth control is sinful? 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:33.040 Is he right? 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.720 Seven kids one on the way in a four bedroom apartment. 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.400 Something's got to give. What did Kings say about her situation? 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:44.320 He wrote, I don't. 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.760 Think it's correct to argue that birth control is sinful. 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.600 It's a serious mistake to suppose that it's a religious 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:52.840 act to allow nature to have its way in the 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:57.720 sex life. He also says, another thing that must be 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.400 said is that changes in social and economic conditions make 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:06.600 smaller families desirable, if not necessary. As you suggest, the 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.760 limited quarters available in our large cities and high cost 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.240 of living precludes such large families as were common a 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.920 century ago. The final consideration is that women must be 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:20.040 considered as more than breeding machines. 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:24.600 Wow, that isn't something that I'd expect from a religious 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.080 man from the South during the nineteen fifties. 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:28.360 Look at Martin. 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:32.640 But like some of these other answers, it contains multiple parts. 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:35.200 He goes on to say, it is. 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:38.880 True the primary obligation of the woman is that of motherhood, 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:43.200 but an intelligent mother wants it to be a responsible motherhood, 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.880 a motherhood to which she has given her consent, not 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:50.560 a motherhood due to impulse and to chance. And this 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:54.040 means birth control in some form. All of these factors 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:58.520 seem to me to make birth control rationally and morally justifiable. 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:00.720 Yeah, So I feel like this is one of those 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.160 instances where he was talking a little bit too much, 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.000 who gave a little bit too much in the answer, 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:08.439 because it went a little off the rails once he 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.920 started justifying his reasoning to say that birth control was 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:17.399 like a moral and a rational decision. Saying that the 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:23.359 primary obligation of the woman is motherhood is expected, but 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:27.399 still wild when you're telling somebody that they have the 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.280 right to be able to choose birth control. 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:32.520 I said, she already got seven kids. 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:38.920 Yeah right, she's probably pretty busy. Yeah, she's pretty busy 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:43.640 doing the work of motherhood already currently. So it felt 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:47.480 like it was a lot of judgment on King's part 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:52.680 of the mother rather than him answering the question, because 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.679 her question is really like a pretty simple one. She 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.800 wasn't really asking for advice of what she should do next. 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.680 It seemed like she really just said, is birth control sinful? 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:03.879 And she was looking for guidance on that, And I 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.440 think bringing what the obligation of women was into the 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:09.760 question that he already answered, which is that no birth 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.480 control is not simple was like a step a bridge 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:12.920 too far. 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:14.920 Yeah, he wanted to put some extra on it. But 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:17.000 I feel like that's the nature of advice columns, Like 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.959 you can't just write a sentence like no birth control 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:23.720 isn't sinful. People want to feel like you considered it, 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.399 which I think maybe when she read this question she 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:30.520 was satisfied with the answer. He was ultimately on her 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:33.600 side of the equation. But it is anonymous, so you 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:35.480 can't like go show your husband. But I don't know 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.520 hers is real specific. We got seven kids, one on 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.440 the way, four bedroom apartment in Harlem, he says. 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:44.320 This honestly, that probably wasn't that rare. 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:49.040 Though true today it's like one person in this situation. Yeah, 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:51.640 who could afford a four bedroom apartment in Harlan. 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.120 Ain't nobody considering being a brand machine in these days? 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:57.080 Who's calling anybody that? Nobody questions that? 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:00.520 So he did do a bit much with the primary 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:03.000 obligation of the woman is that of motherhood. But like 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.040 you said, that was probably just like power for the 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:08.000 course and how people thought. But I do think he's 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.440 like really ahead of his time, like even right now, 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:16.159 because a lot of Christians are very anti birth control, 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:18.520 not even anti abortion, like they are anti abortion, but 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:20.159 they don't even want people on birth control, which is 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:21.959 just so strange to me. But there's like a lot 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.240 of people and we see that now happening with like 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:28.359 the legislation that people are presenting, like they don't want 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.840 the girls to have birth control. So I was surprised 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.639 when he was like, no, it's not sinvil. It's like 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.400 makes sense why you would come to this conclusion, like 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:40.320 you shouldn't leave to things a chance. It should be 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.640 like your consent. I was like, okay, Yeah, he could 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.520 have said be fruitful and multiply exactly would a lot 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:47.880 of people stop if. 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:49.840 You still have the ability to have children there? Yeah, 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:51.479 bear of the fruit. Yeah. 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:56.960 So I be hearing people like that today right now, yeah, 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.840 ten minutes ago. So yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:03.639 the answer, even though you know it had its moments 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:07.240 where he wanted to add a little raffle dazzle for 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:08.399 the girls. 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:11.400 So, speaking of the girls, did men ever write in. 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.640 Yeah, of course everyone wanted advice from Martin Luther king Shaw. 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:16.720 Here's one from a boy who doesn't want his parents 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:17.400 to know he's gay. 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:21.480 He writes, my problem is different from the ones most 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:25.119 people have. I'm a boy, but I feel about boys 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:28.000 the way I ought to feel about girls. I don't 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.960 want my parents to know about me. What can I do? 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:33.800 Is there any place where I can go for help? 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:36.840 Poor baby? What did King say? 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:40.159 He replied, your problem. 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:44.520 Is not at all an uncommon one. However, it does 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:48.040 require careful attention. The type of feeling that you have 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.719 toward boys is probably not an inate tendency, but something 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:55.639 that has been culturally acquired. Your reasons for adopting this 0:20:55.680 --> 0:21:01.720 habit have now been consciously suppressed or unconscious repressed. Therefore, 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:04.600 it's necessary to deal with this problem by getting back 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:08.439 to some of the experiences and circumstances that lead to 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:09.000 the habit. 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:12.119 Okay, seemed like he was starting to veer a little 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.240 too far into psychologist's territory. 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:17.000 Well, he actually suggests the boy sees a psychiatrist. He 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:20.320 goes on to say that basically a psychiatrist can help 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.280 him bring this issue to the forefront of his conscious 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.760 and see what actually led him to the habit. The 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:31.639 habit being gay, I'm assuming and that since he's already 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:34.359 recognizing the problem. He's already on the road to a solution, 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:35.400