Monday, January 21st, 2019
My Dear America:
1965 certainly feels like several lifetimes ago.
That year was a very pivotal year for me in many ways. It was the year I graduated from King's College in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. It was the year I got married. It was the year I had my first Child. It was the year that I was lucky enough to take a test that made it possible for me to attend the CAUSE II program during the Summer of 65 at Temple University in Philadelphia.
CAUSE II was translated into English as (Counselor Adviser University Summer Education). Apparently it was the second year of a program which I must say was an excellent way to train Counselors to work in Youth Opportunity Centers (Government sponsored Youth Training and Job Placement Centers) across the country.
Although I didn't know it at the time, the members of the CAUSE II Program were being taught by some of the best Counselor Education Professionals in the country who were flown into town daily to provide those of us in the program with the best possible Crash Course Counseling Program that could have been provided.
In 1965 Philadelphia was on edge. There had been riots in many major cities and there were going to be more in other cities, including Philadelphia.
One night a black friend of mine in the CAUSE II Program and I took a walk on Broad Street in front of our Johnston Hall residence building. My friend was a bit reluctant to walk the streets at night in Philadelphia. He actually lived close to the Temple Campus and knew what could happen on the North Philly Streets if you were black.
Philadelphia Police Commisioner Frank Rizzo had a bad reputation back then as a No Nonsense Policemen with a penchant for kicking ass.
As my friend and I walked along Broad Street we were suddenly showered with Bright Red Flashing lights.
One of the cops grabbed me and I could see the other cop quickly and cruelly put my friend up against the wall and tell him to spread his legs. I was stunned by the whole situation but I was equally struck by the calmness with which my friend reacted to this clearly dangerous situation. This wasn't the first time this had happened to him. That was obvious. Why wasn't I being thrown up against the wall, I wondered, but I already knew the answer to that. He was black and I was white and in Philadelphia there were, indeed, different strokes for different folks. After we showed our Temple ID's the police officers let us go and we soon headed back to Johnston Hall.
One day my friend showed up at my dorm room and asked me If I wanted to go to see Martin Luther King. I said yes, of course and we made the trip together. I don't recall if Dr. king was speaking on or off campus. I just remember that it was just a short walk to the church where he was appearing. Since it was so close to Temple I naturally assumed that at least some white students from Temple would be there. Although the church was fully packed once inside the only other white faces I saw were police officers. Suddenly I was finding out what it felt like being in the minority.
Martin Luther King was not the only speaker. There were several others, including Black Radical, Stokely Carmichael, who seemed to have toned down his rhetoric for this crowd. After the other speakers had their turn came the main attraction, Doctor Martin Luther King.
It is difficult to put into words what it was like listening to Martin Luther King talk to his Philadelphia audience. I remember just how confidently he strode toward the podium. I remember being disappointed at his size. He was a lot shorter than I had pictured him but once this Master Orator began talking he suddenly seemed ten feet tall. When he spoke you could feel that voice of his filling the church with its incredible, unique power. He started slow but he built his case for Non-Violence quickly and powerfully. His words seemed off the cuff and he clearly wasn't reading any prepared speech. You knew how high this man was going to take you. You knew very quickly what kind of power this man had.
Clearly even the police seemed to be impressed by this masterful wordsmith. When I was leaving after Dr. King's speech I asked one of the cops standing by the door what he thought about Dr. King's Speech. The officer looked around as if to make sure he wasn't being taped and said in a rather Non Committal way "Powerful Speaker".
During the speech I wondered if Dr. King had noticed my white face standing out in that sea of black faces. I think that it would have been hard not to notice me. There were times in his speech when he spoke of white brothers and sisters who had joined their black brothers and sisters in the non violent struggle for freedom and it seemed to me as though he was looking at and talking to me. Regardless, seeing and hearing The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King was an experience that I have never forgotten.
Following the CAUSE II Program I returned to Wilkes Barre and worked in the first Youth Opportunity Center in Pennsylvania. I continued my work as a Counselor and a Therapist throughout my working working life and although sometimes I have financial regrets I will never really regret what I have done in my life in working to help people.
I will also never forget the incredible opportunity I had of seeing and hearing Doctor Martin Luther King Junior speaking to me and many others in Philadelphia in 1965.
On this Martin Luther King Holiday I once again thank God for giving me the opportunity of experiencing this Master Orator and incredible human being in person.
Martin Luther King was a young man when he was martyred for the cause in Memphis later in the Sixties.
On the night before he was executed Martin stated "I've been to the Mountaintop and I've seen the Promised Land." I thank Martin for showing me on that day in 1965 just what it feels like to be on the Mountaintop with him
Sincerely Yours
Jerry Gallagher
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