Martin Luther King Jr.'s "The Crisis in America's Cities", Addressing Race Riots

6pp, measuring 8.5" x 11", Atlanta, Georgia, dated August 15, 1967. A typed transcript of King's presentation, "The Crisis in America's Cities: An Analysis of Social Disorder and a Plan of Action Against Poverty, Discrimination and Racism in Urban America." Dr. King spoke passionately about unemployment and city slums being the cause of rising criminal rates among black individuals and of the violent riots that had taken place. Reading in part:

"The policy makers of the white society have caused the darkness; they created discrimination; they created slums; they perpetuate unemployment, ignorance and poverty. It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society. When we ask Negroes to abide by the law, let us also declare that the white man does not abide by law in the ghettos…The slums are the handiwork of a vicious system of the white society; Negroes live in them but do not make them any more than a prisoner makes a prison…Discrimination is a hell hound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them…Some people assert riots are just such a method. Perhaps it would be well to examine the nature of the outbreaks. They reveal in the first place that the time we have is shorter than many of us believed. Patience is running out and the intransigence and hostility of government—national, state and municipal—is aggravating grievances to explosive levels. The riots are not simply a reign of terror or a splurge of crime, though both elements are partially present. They are also a wildly emotional protest and a desperate attempt to display the utter desperation that has engulfed many Negroes. The vast majority who actively participated were remarkably discriminating in avoiding harm to persons, venting their anger by appropriating or destroying property. There is an ironic purpose in this choice; to attack a society that appears to cherish property above people, the worst wounds to inflict on it are those to property…" The typed document has light creasing throughout, else very good condition.

Martin Luther King's presentation took place just three weeks after the violent race riots that occurred in Detroit in the summer of 1967. During the riots, 43 individuals lost their lives, adding to the numbers already accrued during over 150 urban riots that had already taken place that summer. King addressed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, where he outlined the causes of the violence, notably “the white backlash,” black unemployment, racial discrimination, and the war in Vietnam.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!