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9616 NE 27th Bellevue, WA 98004 May 19, 1969
Dear Mr. Bond: On the night after the assassination of Dr. King, I watched a panel including Whitney Young and others whose names I cannot now recall, discussing the future of the civil rights movement and the consequences of Dr. King's death. One of the things said, that stuck in my memory, was that the man to replace him need not necessarily be a black man. This was a hopeful saying, and as I watched the developing presidential campaign, it appeared that Robert Kennedy might be the man of whom they spoke. Tragically, we were to be prevented from finding out. Now, after seeing you at the Chicago convention (and what a terribly show that was!), I wonder if you are going to be that man? Your manner and appearance on that occasion were extremely impressive, and I pray that you may be able to accept (what God is always willing to give) guidance in deciding for yourself and demonstrating to others that you have a way toward soluiton of our problems Also I pray for yur protection from some act of fanaticism which might prevent that decision. The solution must be found, whether in law or in love. (since our natures unfortunately often require law as a substitute for the other), and I hope it will not involve the alternative of complete separation, with the difficulties and disappointments that will bring.
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As an ex-southerner (and glad of it - I sometimes almost wish I coudl say ex-white) and an abortive anthropologist (26 years as an aeronautical engineer) I must insist that race is a fact, but we have no means of knowing how we would differ, and how much, in the presence of the equality of opportunity and mutual respect (something Whitey has difficulty enough achieving among his own kind). I am enclosing a memorial medallion of Dr. King, struck by the Bavarian State Mint at Munich, soon after the assassination. They are made in gold and silver, in several sizes (this is the largest). I tried to get them in bronze, thinking they would be good for people with little money to throw around, but so far they have not been made. I saw many negroes wearing medallions in which a small phot of Dr. Kind had been set behind the central "jewel", as well as some very crude portrait medallions which sold for $5 (this medal which I send is $6, postpaid, from the dealer in Munich who handles them for the Mint). Some organization such as the SCLC might be able to get the Germans to make these in quantity in bronze and sell them for considerably less, both as a fund-raising method and as a service to people who want a memento but could not afford the higher price. You may find it hard to believe, but I (and I am sure many other whites all over the country) felf Dr. King's death like that of a brother - not only because he seemed the only remaining voice of
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moderation and hope for real solutions, but for the personal gretness he displayed. The memorial march here was awe-inspiring, and very large numbers of whites joined in. I have been maliciously amused lately by the consternation over Forman s demand upon the churches for half a billion separations. Some people inquired why our (Episcopal) church was the first to be forced with the bill, and I had to reply that (as the established chuch in colonial America) they were also the first to condone and justify slavery )not only Negro, but Indian and indentured white); that the chuch at one time inherited and managed a slave worked plantation in the West Indies, and that it had not been at all forward in opporing the de facto slavery in large area of the U.S. from 1863 to the (painfully recent) awakening of conscience in that regard. You will of course realize that any effort to honor this reparative obligation by any of the churches would involve immediate loss of revenue, and probably many more rifts in the already shaky unity of Christiandom - note the formation of the "Anglican" Church as a splinter from our own by "Bishop" Deas, in revolt over the integrationist policies of the central Episcopal organizaiton. Obviously hatred, fear, and insecurity are much more powerful in their working thant the traditionally "Christian" virtues.
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Please excuse my burdening you with so many words, but I feel very deeply in this regard, and have done so from childhood (perhaps my :southern-ness was perverted because my father came from Ohio to Virginia). I have always wished the best for the American Negro, and today hope for the best in leadership that he may avoid blind alleys of (at least, permanant) separation, or excesses in violence which will set off a counter-terror in which a black face may become an automatic death warrant. I don't decry all violence - so many of the current advances might have waited another century, if Negro impatience had not been tangibley demonstratoed, but it means walking a tight rope between advantage and disaster.
Yours, in the faint hop of better tomorrows,
W. Hamilton Enslow
