Of King & Memphis

Sir: Most of the time I was indifferent to the Rev. Martin Luther King's activities. Occasionally I scoffed at his publicity, although I was unconsciously reassured that someone was doing something for humanity. But I cried at his murder. Possibly King's beautiful dream will ultimately result in his being remembered as a man, not a black man. The first step was taken as a thoughtful America united in mourning for a martyred leader. At any rate, our flag waved in a fellow American's memory.

MRS. JOHN VADNAIS St. Paul

Sir: As a Negro, I, too, must bear my share of the shame and horror of Dr. King's untimely death. Whether I burn or kill (by God's grace, I hope to do neither), I am associated with those who do. And we dare to point indiscriminate accusing fingers at whites. The answer to whether Dr. King labored in vain will not be determined alone by the success or failure of civil rights legislation or by improvement of housing and economic opportunities for minorities, but also by the degree to which all of us, blacks and whites, are committed to the pursuit and practice of nonviolence and love. Any commitment short of total is a farce.

(THE REV.) LEWIS P. BOHLER JR. Episcopal Church of the Advent Los Angeles

Sir: In the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, let Negro churches throughout America subscribe to a scholarship fund for bright, poor Negro youths. Let the middle-and upper-class Negro of America concentrate on the ghettos and talk to the boys and girls there, and let them know that there is a big world outside and they must aim for it. Let the American Negro have the courage to love, even where that love might not be returned. In short, I hope that the American Negro, in the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, will play it long, strong and very cool.

IVY M. ALLEN Kingston, Jamaica

Sir: Twice within five years, we had to hear from the land that all others strive to emulate, the harsh, frightening crack of an assassin's rifle. The shots that were echoing around the world after the death of John F. Kennedy, shaking the belief that the U.S.A. is the last place where the courage of an individual to fight against man's inhumanity to man would be met with the cruel bullet of an assassin, had hardly died away. And now Dr. King is dead, crucified on the cross hairs of a madman's telescopic sights. Yes, that is the excuse we give ourselves. It is the work of a demented individual. Perhaps if we repeat it often enough, we might even come to believe it.

P. SUDHIR

Madras, India

Sir: Now will the National Rifle Association and those reluctant Senators and Representatives yield the floor and recognize how desperately this country needs a gun-control law?

JACK HUGHES Kalamazoo, Mich.

Sir: My wife and I are both white, both from Memphis, and both deeply committed to the cause of civil rights. We believe it is a disservice to everyone concerned (and we must all be concerned) to characterize the months-long strike by over 1,000 municipal employees as "a minor labor dispute" and to dismiss a modern city of well over 500,000 people, which is a commercial, industrial, transportation and educational center for several states, as "a Southern backwater" and a "decaying Mississippi river town." It is a gratuitous diminution of the relevance and significance of the problem and the loss. The problems in Memphis involve race relations, economics, whether municipal employees have the right to organize and strike, and senseless, vicious acts of hatred and violence; in short, the problems facing all America today.

RICHARD KORSAKOV Knoxville, Tenn.

Sir: Your magazine was painfully correct in adjectivizing our city as "a backwater" and "decaying." It took a metaphysical physician such as Martin Luther King to make the diagnosis which later cost him his life. He found a strange malaise, spreading to epidemic proportions, composed of irrational fear, cynical hatred, acute spiritual myopia, exaggerated ethnocentrism created by vicinage isolation, and a racist mentality fired by monopolistic, absentee-owned Scripps-Howard papers. Naturally, the natives found King's probing histaminic and TIME'S prognosis inflammatory. I only wish that King had read a little more of Faulkner and less of Kant or Hegel. He might have ignored Mayor Loeb's taunt that he, King, was a coward, and thus remained immune to the bait and out of the trap. The hastily prepared memorial service hypocritically called "Memphis Cares" was a gesture showing that the power structure is concerned about our national image. Gratefully, TIME and others have penetrated this fraud and have given the world the truth, and Memphians a correct self-estimate.

(THE REV.) CARL BASINGER

Chairman, Citizens' Advisory Committee

to the Mayor

Dept. of Urban Renewal and Housing Memphis

Race: Human

Sir: With the passing of the civil rights bill [April 19], it should no longer be necessary to put anything other than "human" in the space marked "race" on job or housing application forms.

MRS. G. A. HARDING Norfolk

Face of Responsibility

Sir: I never realized what it is to be confronted with decisions that could determine the destiny of our country. The cover portraying President Johnson [April 12] expressed so adequately this feeling. WILLIAM W. WILEN Glen Burnie, Md.

Questions on the Ballot

Sir: The political strength of Senator Eugene McCarthy is diluted by the fact that his protests about the Viet Nam war are almost entirely based on the "immorality" of this conflict. I, too, feel that the war should be ended, but I also feel that the Senator, as a presidential candidate, has an obligation to logically support his stand. We know that war is immoral; this attribute is inherent in the meaning of the word. But could the Senator tell us why there is no political or economic or military justification for this war (as opposed to the "popular" wars in which the U.S. has been involved)? Could he logically deflate the theories which would tell us that victory in Viet Nam is essential to our national security?

RENA S. SHAW Milwaukee

Sir: Senator McCarthy spoke recently at Boston University about civil rights. Where was the Senator about a month ago, when the civil rights (housing) bill came up for a vote? At that time, both parties needed votes and the Senators were rushing back to the Senate--except Senator McCarthy. He stayed in New Hampshire trying to get votes. Adlai Stevenson would not have stayed away.

JOAN EVELYN Farmington, N.H.

Sir: Enough! Don't you think it time you end your attack on Robert Kennedy? He has proved himself an excellent statesman, leader and politician through his own doing and actions in the Senate. Many say he is a selfish opportunist. I ask you, why should he not take advantage of the conditions within the Democratic Party and the nation? Who do you suppose gave the national emphasis to such causes as opposing the war, the racial problem and the neglected rights of minority groups? I contend that R.F.K. opened the path for others to follow--Eugene McCarthy being one of the most prominent.

MRS. CAROL RILEY Glenview, Ill.

Sir: Since Mr. McNamara has been telling us about Senator Kennedy's role in formulating foreign policy while a member of his brother's Cabinet [April 19], it would only seem fair that McNamara inform us, in detail, of Bobby's efforts at that time to enlarge our commitment in Viet Nam.

MURRAY C. SMITH III Washington, D.C.

Decline of Dogma

Sir: Isn't it strange that the same issue of TIME that discusses the possible death of the organized church [April 12] should memorialize a black preacher who changed a nation from a thousand pulpits? The life and death of Martin Luther King would prove more than enough to accent the meaning and power of the church today.

(THE REV.) WALTER RIESS St. Louis

Sir: The decline of dogma is neither recent nor remarkable. Thomas Jefferson, who claimed "I am a sect in myself" and Thomas Paine, who observed "My mind is my own church" set the tone for it. Today, dogma is rejected largely by the young, particularly those of us who have come of age in the 1960s. It was with awe and hope that we first heard the echoes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's bomb-rocked prison. There, the 37-year-old theologian urged man to find Christ at the "center of life" by participating in the struggles of the world. This was the supreme religious act. For most, despite their imperiled souls, this was dogma enough, and a way to manifest Paul Tillich's "ultimate" concern.

EVELYN STUART Honolulu

You're Welcome, Clyde

Sir: Without a doubt, Clyde Barrow's testimonial to the superiority of Ford Motor Co.'s cars [April 5] has got to be the funniest letter-to-the-editor contribution ever--if it's for real.

MRS. JOHN COSTILLE Houston

· Well, the folks at Ford sure thought so.

Hemiscare

Sir: San Antonians are to be congratulated for creating a remarkably designed and gracious world's fair [April 12]. Imagination and ingenuity characterize the refurbishing of existing structures to house exciting displays and the building of waterways that meander through "landscaped grounds. Contrasting with the jaded attitudes of some New Yorkers toward their fair, San Antonians are bursting with pride. Everyone stoops to keep the byways litter-free. These Texans are displaying what might be termed Hemiscare.

ROBERT H. AMSDEN Maplewood, NJ.

Mister Transistor

Sir: Pearl Weinberger's research on the effects of sound on wheat seedlings [April 12] has solved a puzzle for me: How come my son, at 15, is over 6 ft. 2 in. tall? Of course. His transistor radio has provided the continuous sound frequencies necessary for increased growth.

HOWARD A. NIELSON Denver

That Middleman Again

Sir: Compliments on your article "Pot: Safer than Alcohol?" [April 19]. What you say must become known to parents and lawmakers before constructive steps can be taken to handle this social phenomenon intelligently. However, you state: "For $5, anyone almost anywhere can buy enough through his office boy or teenage offspring to make six cigarettes." For $5, anyone almost anywhere can buy ½ oz. of grass (a "matchbox"), which is enough for twelve to 15 cigarettes. If you are only getting six cigarettes for $5, well, keep an eye on your office boy.

NORMAN STEPHAN VOGEL San Francisco

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