My grandfather, Wayne L. Black, said this in 1968: “The trouble with all bigots is that they can never tolerate the truth if its effect is to uproot them from their own little private corners of comfort. Our country will remain socially ill until its people are willing to accept four-square and without reservation the proposition that all of God’s children are equal in the sight of God, of government, and of fellow-citizen. It is these people that consider themselves more equal than others who are the true troublemakers. We fought a civil war over this matter once, and our troubles are far from over.
“There are still many patriots in this country who devote their lives to the American dream. Some of these men are in the Congress, presidents. Some are just ordinary people with an extraordinary amount of compassion for their fellow man … bigotry is a powerful enemy to enlightenment and men … are not always patient. The line between pacifism and violence is quite thin. And the overriding clinches is the proposition, which cannot be denied, that Martin Luther King preached the truth. And he bothered the conscience of America. I say thank God we have a conscience that is capable of being bothered.
“I would hate to ever see the day come when our nation, like Russia or Hitler Germany, would scrap its treaties and ignore its solemn obligations in the face of the hue and cry of selfish politicians, more interested in getting votes than in being right.”
Michelle Black Dallon
Salt Lake City