Back to Letter ExcerptBy Mari Evans
i
Have Arrived
i
am the
New Negro
i
am the result of
President Lincoln
World War I
and Paris
the
Red Ball Express
white drinking fountains
sitdowns and
sit-ins
Federal Troops
Marches on Washington
And
prayer meetings
today
They hired me
it
is a status
job . . .
along
with my papers
They
gave me my
Status Symbol
the
key
to the
White . . . Locked . . .
John
Martin Luther King says that he fears the white moderate more than a blatant racist. This poem by Mari Evans exemplifies why. At the end of this poem, we see that the "New Negro" is finally given a status symbol. Unfortunately, however, this status symbol is nothing more than the keys to the same restroom as white people. The "New Negro" still does not have the rights that he deserves. However, white moderates feel that whatever the "New Negro" has is enough and anything more is not worth fighting for. King knows that it is not enough and this is the basis for his fear of white moderates. They feel that the "New Negro" has enough to get by and further civil rights actions are not necessary.
King intentionally included his fear of white moderates in his letter so that the clergymen reading it would realize that although they are not white, they are moderates. However, King does not directly insult them because he still wanted to garner their support. So he subtly includes the argument that if they do not act, change will never come, and they will forever be stuck with the "keys to the restroom."