Next Monday, January 19, we again celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This is my 25th annual message for the holiday, a tradition started in 2002 as an internal message at my law firm. The distribution was expanded to friends and family, and in 2016, the message moved to Hot Stove.
Some may ask why continued reminders of our checkered past are necessary. When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, there was talk of a post-racism America. Our Congressman Emanuel Cleaver presciently warned at the time in a Washington Post Op-Ed that “Race relations in America are far from sublime. Despite Obama’s election, there are still Americans who, like the old Missouri mule, are awful backward about going forward. It would be absurd not to expect high-profile acts of racism to occur, just as always.”
And backward we can go. Remember the white supremacy rally in Charlottesville in 2017 when there were supposedly “fine people” on both sides? George Floyd? The current moves to rewrite history? For example, the directive to the Smithsonian to remove exhibit references to “how bad slavery was” (and don’t get me started on the Big Lie of the 2020 election and the fiction of the “peaceful” protest on January 6).
Retelling history can be informative, even if uncomfortable. Those of us who grew up in the 1950s saw segregated schools and lunch counters. Jim Crow was alive and well in Kansas City. The notorious segregation dividing line was Troost Avenue. Most of the African American population was isolated east of Troost, kept there by restrictive covenants and redlining schemes.
Many people tend to stay in the area where they grew up, so a high percentage of Kansas City’s African Americans still live east of Troost. But the citizens of Kansas City have moved on in many ways, including elections. Although the percentage of Blacks in Kansas City is about 26%, three of the last five mayors have been Black (Emanuel Cleaver, Sly James and Quinton Lucas), as have two of the last three members of Congress (Alan Wheat and Emanuel Cleaver).
But there is an effort underway to thwart Kansas City voters on their Congressional representation. Missouri has eight members of Congress. Two are Democrats – Wesley Bell in St. Louis and Emanuel Cleaver in KC. Missouri’s governor and legislature have proposed a gerrymandered map designed to defeat Cleaver. And how to do that? Reinstate the Troost segregation line!
The proposed map is below, and Kansas City is generally at the middle left. The straight line separating the green and purple areas is Troost/71 Highway. Cleaver lives east of Troost, and his district would now stretch to near Rolla and Jeff City. The parts of the city west of Troost are also split, the north part in a district going to the Iowa state line and the south part sharing a district with the Ozarks. The gerrymandered map is being contested in litigation and by a potential referendum. Stay tuned.
I understand the national surge of gerrymandering is primarily aimed at keeping a Republican majority in the House of Representatives. But at what cost? In Missouri, it means reinstating a dividing line between races, a new injustice to compound the legacy injustice. Collateral damage in the service of a political agenda.
So, racism, be it old style or systemic, intended or not, is not dead. Yes, there have been worthy advances in civil rights, many set in motion by Martin Luther King Jr. But to quote singer Stevie Wonder on the dual purpose of celebrating the holiday…
“Recognition of what he achieved and as a reminder of the distance still to be traveled…Dr. King has left an unfinished symphony, which we must complete.”
Amen.
The First 24 Messages: Below are the subjects of the messages posted from 2002 to 2025. Thanks to my son Brian, all are archived on the Lonnie’s Jukebox website at this link. I’ve also linked individual posts at the beginning of each entry.
2002-2012: Annual Messages. The first 11 messages are collected at this link.
2002-2005: Letter from Birmingham Jail/I Have a Dream. The first four messages celebrated the words of Martin Luther King Jr. as memorably delivered in 1963 from the Birmingham Jail and at the Lincoln Memorial.
2006: Rosa Parks/Integration of the Kansas City Bar Association. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus.
On that same date, the segregated Kansas City Bar Association voted to admit African American attorneys. The campaign to force this vote was led by civil rights attorney Irving Achtenberg and 15 other Kansas City attorneys (the sole survivor of this heroic group is 100-year-old Judge Howard Sachs).
2007: Watch Meeting – Waiting for the Hour. This painting by William Tolman Carlton depicts slaves waiting by candlelight for the stroke of midnight when President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation would take effect and free them from bondage. A copy hangs in my office.
2008: Sisters of Selma. In 1965, several nuns participated in civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama. One of them was Sister Rosemary Flanigan of Kansas City (shown below talking to Russ Welsh who was managing partner when our law firm (Polsinelli) added MLK as a firm holiday; also in the photo is Polsinelli partner Dan Flanigan, Sister Rosemary’s nephew).
2009: “A Change is Gonna Come.” On election night in 2008, President-Elect Barack Obama declared, “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight…change has come to America.” Those words were inspired by Sam Cooke’s civil rights anthem, “A Change is Gonna Come.”
2010: Nelson Mandela. In October of 2009, Rita and I were on a photo safari in South Africa. While in Cape Town, we visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island where he spent 18 of his 27 years as a political prisoner. It was quite moving to view his small cell and realize he would forgive those responsible so the country could proceed with reconciliation. A prime example was his support during the World Cup of the country’s rugby team, once a primary symbol of white supremacy.
2011: The Year 1955 – Rosa Parks and Rock and Roll. I was a freshman in high school in the fall of 1955 when Rosa Parks made history by refusing to give up her seat on the bus. Another “civil rights” movement rapidly growing that fall was the rise of rock ‘n’ roll, which was greatly influenced by R&B artists like Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Little Richard. By listening to the music and buying records, white teenagers were (unwittingly) breaking down racial barriers. While the authorities worked to segregate the schools and lunch counters, the airwaves were free to all.
My 2011 message caught the eye of Kansas City Star editor Miriam Pepper, and she arranged to have it run in the paper on January 17, 2011.
2012: I’ve Been to the Mountaintop. On April 3, 1968, Martin Luther King was in Memphis and gave what would be his last speech. He prophetically spoke of not likely seeing the full fruits of his labor, but like Moses on Mount Nebo, King was optimistic that his people would get to their Promised Land. The next day, King was on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel when James Earl Ray fired his shot. The Lorraine Motel is now a civil rights museum, which Rita and I visited in 2011. On April 3, 2018, the 50th anniversary of the speech, I wrote a follow-up piece (click here).
2013: Bill Veeck and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. In 1947, Cleveland owner Bill Veeck signed Negro Leaguer Larry Doby to be the first Black to play in the American League. The next year, the Indians won the World Series, and two of the key players were Doby and the ageless Satchel Paige.
That story and many more are told at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. As one winds through the baseball exhibits, there is a parallel timeline along the lower edge that places the Negro Leagues history in context with civil rights milestones.
2014: Presidential Civil Rights Executive Orders from 1863 to Turnip Day, 1948. In 1863, by an executive order known as the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in the rebel states. It would be the last significant civil rights order until 1948 when President Harry Truman issued orders eliminating discrimination in the federal workplace and integrating the armed services.
2015: John Lewis, Selma and Bloody Sunday. This post was a 50th anniversary salute to those who risked their lives for voting rights by marching toward Selma on March 7, 1965 (to become known as “Bloody Sunday” for the attacks on the protestors on the Edmund Pettis Bridge). Civil rights leader (and future congressman) John Lewis was among those injured. The brutal attack prompted President Lyndon Johnson to accelerate voting rights legislation, leading to passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
John Lewis is a personal hero of mine, and I was privileged to meet him at a Truman Library dinner in 2017. When he died in 2020, I wrote a Hot Stove tribute (click here).
2016: “Everybody Deserves a Shot” – Alexander Hamilton and Sam Phillips. Several of my posts reference the unifying power of music. In Lin Manuel Miranda’s genius Broadway show Hamilton, the multiracial casting is a modern-day version of the diversity of the immigrants who lived in the thirteen colonies. Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records in Memphis, had three major passions: civil rights, baseball, and rock ‘n’ roll. My kind of guy.
2017: Martin, Jackie and Roberto. Jackie Robinson famously broke the color line in baseball in 1947. He later became a supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. Below, Martin Luther King and Jackie Robinson receiving their honorary degrees at Howard University in 1957.
Roberto Clemente became a major leaguer eight years after Jackie, but the indignities suffered by Jackie as a Black player remained and were compounded by the language barrier. Clemente met with King several times and became a leader in the battle for Black players to be able to travel, reside and eat with all their fellow players. Below, Clemente receiving the ball from his 3000th hit.
2018: Baseball Integration – A Triumph of Journalism. Long before Branch Rickey’s signing Jackie Robinson, the cause of baseball integration was championed by Black sportswriters like Wendell Smith and Sam Lacy. When Rickey signed Robinson, he also hired Wendell Smith to travel and room with Jackie because Smith knew the Jim Crow issues from his Negro League coverage and so was familiar with arranging housing and meals in cities where Jackie could not be with his teammates. Below, Smith and Robinson.
There was one outspoken white writer, Lester Rodney, a Communist who wrote hundreds of articles for the Daily Worker in a campaign to end baseball apartheid.
2019: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles. To date, the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is comprised of 352 elected members. Of that total, one is a woman. Effa Manley ran the Newark Eagles in the Negro Leagues and used that position to advance the Civil Rights Movement. Her team won the Negro Leagues World Series in 1946 with a lineup that included future Hall of Famers Larry Doby and Monte Irvin.
2020: Baseball in Birmingham (1964). When MLB required minor league affiliates to integrate for the 1962 season, the city of Birmingham said no. In 1964, the city yielded, and Charlie Finley agreed to be the MLB affiliate of the Birmingham Barons. Jim Crow remained in place in the rest of the city, so the Black players were still mostly unwelcome (among them, Campy Campaneris and Blue Moon Odom). For nine innings at Rickwood Field, Birmingham was integrated. Otherwise not at all. But it was a start.
2021: Buck O’Neil on the Mountaintop. Like Moses and Martin Luther King, Buck O’Neil reached the mountaintop. Superb work in his chosen calling. Although Buck would gracefully handle the situation, baseball fans were unhappy that Buck was initially denied entry into the Hall of Fame (the “Promised Land”). Buck died in 2006. The good news is that 11 months after this MLK post, Buck was belatedly elected to the Hall of Fame (Hot Stove #179).
2022: Barrier Breakers. An exhibit at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum honors the first Black player on each of the 16 teams playing in the 1940s/1950s. The first is of course Jackie Robinson in 1947. Through 1952, only six teams were integrated. Brown v. Board came in 1954 and Rosa Parks in 1955, and the pace picked up. The holdout Phillies (1957), Tigers (1958) and Red Sox (1959) were the last three to field a “Barrier Breaker.”
2023: Willie Mays. Willie had a storied career and came in first in Joe Posnanski’s The Baseball 100. But much of his career was in the Jim Crow era, and the superstar suffered the common indignities of the day. In 1955, when the Giants were still in New York, Sports Illustrated ran this cover shot of Willie with his manager Leo Durocher and Leo’s wife Laraine Day.
That white hand on Willie’s shoulder created an outcry. Hate mail rolled in. And here was Willie’s initial welcome when the team moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season.
2024: Bayard Rustin. Over Labor Day Weekend in 2023, Rita and I saw the movie Rustin at the Telluride Film Festival. I knew then he would be the subject of the 2024 MLK message. The 1963 March on Washington is best known for the “I Have a Dream” speech and the impact on pushing Congress to act on civil rights. But who conceived of the march and organized the logistics for the 250,000 in attendance? Bayard Rustin, a name often lost in the telling of this event. Why? Rustin was gay and could not be the up-front person for media purposes.
2025: Stevie Wonder and the MLK Holiday. Stevie Wonder wrote a song, provided financing, toured and gathered celebrity and political support to make the MLK holiday a reality. The bill was passed in 1983, and the first celebration was on January 20, 1986. Below, Stevie with Coretta Scott King.
Lonnie’s Jukebox: Steve Cropper Edition. Many of the MLK messages above celebrate the unifying power of sports and music in advancing civil rights. A good example of this is the work of Steve Cropper who died last month at the age of 84. Cropper was a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.s, the house band at Stax Records in Memphis. The band was unique for being multiracial, a rarity in the south. Below, the classic lineup, from left: Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass), Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar) and Al Jackson Jr. (drums). The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
Beginning in the late 1950s, the white owners of Stax (siblings Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton) assembled a racially integrated team of staff and artists. The session musicians who became regulars took on the name of Booker T. & the M.G.s. With the same set of musicians backing the artists, the Stax sound was identifiable and became known as southern/Memphis soul music. In a sign of the times, the multiracial members of the band could perform together behind the doors of the studio, but not on stages in music venues in segregated Memphis.
In addition to his rhythm guitar providing the groove for the Stax sound, Steve Cropper was also in charge of the artists and repertoire and was often a producer and songwriter. He had a hand in almost every record out of Stax from the fall of 1961 to the end of 1970. Take a listen…
“Green Onions” by Booker T. and the M.G.s (1962). Written and performed by the initial four members of the band (Lewie Steinberg then playing bass; replaced by Donald “Duck” Dunn in 1965).
“In the Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett (1965). When Black artists like Wilson Pickett came to record in Memphis, they often stayed at the Lorraine Motel, a haven for Black visitors in the segregated city. The motel was a creative hub for the musicians, and Steve Cropper met with Wilson Pickett there to co-write this song. Three years later, Martin Luther King was assassinated at the motel.
“Soul Man” by Sam and Dave (1967). Cropper’s guitar lick starts the record, and at the 1:13 mark, Sam Moore shouts, “Play it, Steve!” to cue the guitar solo.
“Hang ‘Em High” by Booker T. and the M.G.s (1968). A cover from the score of Clint Eastwood’s movie of the same name.
“Knock on Wood” by Eddie Floyd (1968). Co-written by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper at the Lorraine Motel during a thunderstorm (that’s why the lyrics include “it’s like thunder, lightning/the way you love me is frightenin’”). Steve Cropper reminisced about this in a 2021 Facebook post.
“(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” (1968) by Otis Redding. Steve Cropper and Otis Redding co-wrote this song recorded at Stax on November 22. Overdubs were recorded on December 7, 1967, and three days after that, Redding was killed in a plane crash. Cropper finished the mixing of the song by adding the sound of seagulls and crashing waves as Redding had planned to do. The song was released on January 8, 1968, and became the first posthumous #1 single.
“Time is Tight” by Booker T. & the M.G.s (1969). This was a hit single off the band’s soundtrack album for the movie Uptight.
Last year, an excellent 4-episode documentary about Stax was released and is streaming on HBO. Trailer here.
Steve Cropper After Stax: In the five decades after he left Stax, Cropper was always busy (too extensive to include, even for a long Hot Stove, so here is his Wikipedia page). But mention must be made of his being part of the Blues Brothers band with Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi. He toured with the band, played on the albums and was in both of the movies.
“Soul Man” by the Blues Brothers (1978 on SNL). Steve Cropper was an early recruit to the Blues Brothers band. When the band opened the Saturday Night Live show on November 18, 1978, they played “Soul Man,” a cover of the Sam and Dave song from 1967. Cropper’s involvement in the original is captured by John Belushi shouting the Sam Moore line to Cropper, “Play it, Steve!” (at 2:37).
“Gimme Some Lovin’” by the Blues Brothers (clip from the 1980 movie Blues Brothers). In this movie clip, “Gimme Some Loving’” gets no love from the country bar crowd.
“Green Onions” by the Blues Brothers (clip from the 1998 movie Blues Brothers 2000). This is a cover of the original, and Cropper’s guitar work is front and center as Dan Ackroyd (Elwood Blues) gives his speech on the importance of blues, soul and R&B music.
Walk-Off Photo: We got the welcome word over the weekend that the Plaza Lights will stay on through Valentine’s Day. We are biased on this. Below, a recent photo at dawn from our kitchen table.
