Convenience Liberals

First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. 

He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. 

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. 

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. 

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict. 

     The words above are all quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Read them carefully, and you will discover something that I found striking. When he talks about oppression and change, he isn’t actually talking to the oppressor, necessarily. In the quotes above, he is speaking to and about the inactivity of those he calls, in Letter From A Birmingham Jail, “moderates.” I have come to refer to these folks as convenience liberals. In all of these quotes, Dr. King is expressing his frustration with the folks who would, on some level, have called themselves allies, and yet chose silence and/or inactivity rather than to stand beside him in the fight for freedom and equality.

     The events of the past month have led me to conclude that Dr. King was right. It is not the bad guys who are the problem. It is the “good guys” who choose to sit idly by and bear witness to oppression that are the death knell of justice. The bad guys are steadfast in their convictions. They are vocal in their opposition to equality. They stand up against love and hope. Their position is clear. They do exactly what is expected of them, thus making them easier to deal with.

     One is not disappointed by his enemies, because he expects nothing from them. Disappointment comes by way of friends who speak support but don’t act on it.

      As Dr. King said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”