Siouxsie Law

No offense to drum majors, but I don’t want this on my epitaph.  I’ve never said such a thing.

Just like Martin Luther King, Jr. never said “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.”  Those who knew and worked with Dr. King, i.e. Maya Angelou, say that the shortened quote makes him seem like “an arrogant twit.”  To me, it makes it sound like he had an obsession with marching bands.

I simply can’t comprehend the thought process behind misquoting Dr. King on his long-overdue monument.  Even worse, the misquote misses the entire point of Dr. King’s Drum Major sermon.   The “Drum Major Instinct” speech, given just two months before his assassination, warns us of the impulse to want to be the drum major — the leader of the parade, greater than everyone else.  In his sermon, Dr. King encourages us to embrace this instinct but to do so through service and love to others.  The most poignant part of the sermon is at the end when he describes his own funeral:

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)

I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)

I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that’s all I want to say.

This whole incident makes me want to print out the entire “Drum Major Instinct” sermon, drive to D.C. and tape it on the monument.  Or at least use my online pulpit to encourage others to do this.

~ by siouxsielaw on January 14, 2012.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: drum majors, Jr., Martin Luther King, MLK