What Would Martin Say?

When the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, the world lost one of the greatest moral authorities of the twentieth century. We would all benefit from hearing Martin's voice, if only he were alive today. . . .

If anyone would have insight into Martin's thoughts and opinions, it would be Clarence B. Jones, King's personal lawyer and one of his closest principal advisers and confidants. Removing the mythic distance of forty years' time to reveal the flesh-and-blood man he knew as his friend, Jones ponders what the outspoken civil rights leader would say about the serious issues that bedevil contemporary America: Islamic terrorism and the war in Iraq, reparations for slavery, anti-Semitism, affirmative action, illegal immigration, and the state of African American leadership.

When the Reverned Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, the world lost one of the greatest moral authorities of the twentieth century. We would all benefit from hearing Martin's voice, if only he were alive today....

If anyone would have insight into Martin's thoughts and opinions, it would be Clarence B. Jones, King's personal lawyer and one of his closest principal advisers and confidants. Removing the mythic distance of forty years' time to reveal the flesh-and-blood man he knew as his friend, Jones ponders what the outspoken civil rights leader would say about the serious issues that bedevil contemporary America: Islamic terrorism and the war in Iraq, reparations for slavery, anti-Semitism, affirmative action, illegal immigration, and the state of African American leadership.

"What would Martin say about the pressing issues of our time is a bold question to ask. Clarence Jones is one of the few who possess the moral authority neccessary to even attempt to such a task, one that [Jones] more than accomplishes with a compelling candor and uncommon grace and dignity." Travis Smiley

Publishers Weekly

"I was privy to his innermost thoughts," Jones, draft speech writer and adviser to Martin Luther King Jr., assures us in this bold yet presumptuous endeavor to reveal "what [King] would have to say, and what he would advise, on issues of the day." Generally speaking, King, as channeled by Jones, would be dismayed and-astonishingly-fiercely conservative. According to Jones, King would now oppose affirmative action ("its time and usefulness have come and gone") and illegal immigration ("the moral brazenness of those without the legal right to be here who demand that Americans treat them as though they were decorated soldiers or fighters for constitutional rights"). A complicated King emerges from Jones's portrait-not the familiar pacifist but a likely supporter of the Iraq War who in Jones's words might believe that "military action is an unavoidable option that even those who are otherwise committed to non-violence must be prepared to consider now in order to save many more lives later." With characteristic pugnacity, Jones excoriates black leaders who "pursue policies that pimp the best interests of black people" and accuses the FBI of masterminding King's assassination. The notion of acting as a medium for the departed King is provocative, but Jones is a smooth manager of feisty prose. What's here is a sort of political parlor game and, like a good parlor game, it will make for lively conversation. (Apr.)

Clarence B. Jones was recruited by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1960 and worked with him as his principal adviser. The father of five children, Jones lives in Palo Alto, California, where is a scholar in residence at the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.