To Carlton B. Goodlett
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Date: April 10, 1961
Location: Atlanta, Ga.?
Genre: Letter
Details
On 28 March 1961, one day after King concluded a fundraising tour through the Bay Area, an article in the San Francisco Chronicle reported that King chided the local black leadership for their lack of unity around the appointment of James E. Stratten as the first African American member of the San Francisco Board of Education.1 King’s alleged remarks elicited letters from local black leaders, including one from Goodlett, a local activist and the editor of the Sun-Reporter, who cautioned King to be “careful” when making statements about situations he knows little about: “When men of your national reputation allow themselves to be involved in a local controversy without a clear background, our burden is made heavier.”2 In response, King denies making any statement on that issue. Although King professes to be far from perfect, he is certain that he had not “come to the point that I would go into a local community and pass judgment on an issue that I am not informed about.”3
Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett
1380 Turk Street
San Francisco 15, California
Dear Mr. Goodlett:
Enclosed is a copy of a letter which I just sent to the editor of the San Francisco CHRONICLE.4 I am very sorry that the impression was given that I made some critical statement of those who were raising questions concerning the Stratton appointment. I made no statement pro or con, privately or publicly. In fact, I was never even questioned by the press concerning the Stratton appointment. And I was so busy during my visit that I never had a chance to delve into the details of the whole issue.
I am sure you realize that one of the perils of being a leader is that of being constantly misrepresented, misquoted and misconstrued. This happens to me so often that I have had to develop the art of living with it. Whenever I can I seek to correct misrepresentations. However, it happens so often that in many instances I go on without even answering.
Certainly, I have no pretense to infallibility or to excellence of judgment at every point, but I do not believe that I have come to the point that I would go into a local community and pass judgment on an issue that I am not informed about. I sincerely regret that this whole thing occurred. While I do not feel that there was any malicious attempt on the part of the CHRONICLE, I am sure that the sentiments expressed were those of someone else and I was chosen as a person to state them.
I must also make it clear that I have made no statement concerning the San Francisco ministers. Actually, it never occurred to me that they were not cooperating. I never heard anyone discuss the matter at any time.5 As I said in the letter to the Editor, I left the Bay Area so tremendously inspired and moved that I did not have time to think of any local division. Far from leaving upset, I left with new courage and vigor to carry on.
Please know that you have my prayers and best wishes for the significant work that you are doing in the Bay Area. I quite agree with you concerning the insidious and subtle forms of discrimination in sections outside of the south. I can appreciate some of the problems which you are confronting. If I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to call on me. I have kept up with the dedicated and significant work you are doing with a great deal of inner pride.
Very sincerely yours,
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Km
Dictated by Dr. King, but signed in his absence.
1. The article quoted King as saying that “it’s little wonder Negroes are so rarely named to these responsible positions” and “Negroes can’t even get behind their own people” (Donovan McClure, “Dr. King Leaves—Upset,” San Francisco Chronicle, 28 March 1961). King’s four-day visit was sponsored by the Western Christian Leadership Conference (WCLC), the West Coast fundraising arm of SCLC, and included engagements at Monterey Peninsula College and the Oakland Auditorium. California governor Edmund G. Brown authorized police escorts and security for King (King to Brown, 4 April 1961).
2. In his letter, Goodlett explained that his opposition to Stratten’s appointment was due to the fact that he was director of a community center “subsidized in the main by the big industrialist.” He added, “We wanted to place upon the board a distinguished minister who is beholden to no one but the Negro people” (Goodlett to King, 30 March 1961). San Francisco attorney Terry A. François sent a similar letter to King in which he warned King to “steer clear of complicated local issues and beware of newspaper reporters who invite your comment on same” (François to King, 29 March 1961; King to François, 12 April 1961). Carleton Benjamin Goodlett (1914–1997), born in Chipley, Florida, earned a B.A. from Howard University in 1935 and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1938. Goodlett completed a medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville (1944), and the following year he opened a private practice in San Francisco’s predominately black Fillmore District. Throughout his long career, Goodlett led and was a member of several civic rights organizations, including the NAACP (1947–1949) and the California Black Leadership Council (1951). He helped found the Black Press Archives (1973) at Howard University’s Moorland Spingarn Research Center and the Morehouse School of Medicine (1975). In the 1966 Democratic gubernatorial primary, he ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Edmund G. Brown. He retired from medicine in 1983.
3. While Goodlett offered some praise of King and the work of SCLC, he further scoffed that he would never visit Atlanta and comment publicly on local disagreements like the discord between the Atlanta student leaders, who wanted the desegregation of downtown Atlanta businesses immediately, and the adult leaders, who had recently reached an agreement with the Chamber of Commerce to gradually desegregate (Goodlett to King, 30 March 1961). For more on King’s involvement in the Atlanta sit-in agreement, see Introduction, pp. 4–5 in this volume.
4. King to Editor of San Francisco Chronicle, 12 April 1961. Excerpts of King’s letter were published in the Chronicle on 21 April 1961: “Actually I made no comment concerning this appointment. I recall hearing of disagreement over the appointment, but I did not feel sufficiently informed to make a statement. I sincerely regret that the article gave this impression … along with the one that I left the Bay area upset. I left tremendously inspired. I do not know when I have had an experience that gave me a feeling of such massive, overwhelming support from friends of good will (King, “Calm and Inspired,” San Francisco Chronicle, 21 April 1961).
5. King closed out his tour of the Bay Area with a 26 March address before a capacity crowd of over 8,000 at the Oakland Auditorium where approximately $10,000 was raised for SCLC. Citing an unnamed source, a news article claimed that no San Francisco ministers had joined WCLC and that King was disappointed by the lack of support (McClure, “Dr. King Leaves—Upset,” 28 March 1961; McClure, “8,000 Hear Dr. King in Oakland,” San Francisco Chronicle, 27 March 1961). In his letter to King, Goodlett said that the local ministers would join WCLC soon, but that the comments attributed to King in the newspaper “have done to our cause in San Francisco” a “grievous injury” (Goodlett to King, 30 March 1961).
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954–1968, Boston University, Boston, Mass.