King on a Tough Mind and a Tender Heart
Thomas Allen
In “A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart,” Strength to Love (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1963, 2010), pages 1–9, Martin Luther King, Jr. discusses tough-mindedness, soft-mindedness, and tenderheartedness. The following is a critical review of King’s essay.
King begins with what makes a man strong: “The strong man holds in a living blend strongly marked opposites.” (P. 1.) Accordingly, a strong man is the synthesis of opposites. (Needless to say, King considered himself a strong man.)
King envisioned himself as following Jesus’ directions in Matthew 10:16. He saw himself as being as tough as the serpent but as soft as the dove. So, naturally, he saw himself as having a tough mind and a tender heart. (He had neither. He may have had a stubborn mind, but it was dull. Moreover, he displayed little tenderness toward Southerners and especially segregationists.)
Then, King discusses the characteristics of a tough mind: “incisive thinking, realistic appraisal, and decisive judgment.” (P. 2.) Furthermore, a tough mind is sharp, astute, and discerning. It breaks “through the crust of legends and myths and sifting the true from the false.” (In short, a tough mind requires a level of intelligence and intellect that King lacked. A good example of people who lack a tough mind is those who idolize King. They cannot break “through the crust of legends and myths sifting the true from the false.”)
Correctly, King remarks that a tough mind is one of man’s greatest needs. (Unfortunately, a tough mind is almost absent in Whites concerning race.)
King writes, “Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” (He is being generous. He should have written, “Nothing pains most people more than having to think.”)
Continuing, King notes that gullibility is a sign of a weak mind. (An example of weak-minded gullible people is those who believe the government’s and the establishment media’s lies and propaganda about COVID-19 and its so-called vaccine.)
Correctly, King remarks that “authentic channels of information— the press, the platform, and in many instances the pulpit—do not give us objective and unbiased truth.” (P. 3.) (This claim is even more true today. Few people critically judge what they read and hear to discern fact from fiction. People who idolize King are a good example. Moreover, King illustrates that he lacks the toughness of mind to discern — for example, his reliance on Communists.)
Turning to the soft-minded man, King writes “The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new.” (P.3.) For King, most Southerners and all segregationists were soft-minded. Soft-minded people prefer ignorance to knowledge. (Thus, soft-minded people do not see the world as King thinks that they should. Hence, integrationists are tough-minded, and segregationists are soft-minded.)
Then, King notes that dictators manipulate soft-minded people with emotions to submit to the dictators’ will. (King and other civil rights leaders used emotions to incite their followers, both Black and White, because they knew that their followers were soft-minded people.)
Next, King remarks, “Soft mindedness is one of the basic causes of race prejudice.” (P.4.) On the other hand, tough-minded people evaluate the facts before they reach a conclusion — they postjudge. Soft-minded people reach a conclusion before they evaluate the facts — they prejudge. He writes, “Race prejudice is based on groundless fears, suspicions, and misunderstandings.” (P. 5.) (Consequently, King proves that Southerners are tough-minded people concerning racial issues. Instead of prejudging, Southerners postjudge. Having lived, worked, and associated with Negroes for more than 400 years, Southerners have more than 400 years of experience with and knowledge of the Negro. Their knowledge of the Negro far exceeds that of Northern integrationists. Therefore, Southerners are void of racial prejudices. Since integrationists judge Southerners and segregationists before examining the facts, they are soft-minded people; they prejudge and are, therefore, prejudiced.)
Continuing, King asserts that segregationists, whom he considers soft-minded people, want to perpetuate segregation “because Negroes lag behind [Whites] in academic, health, and moral standards.” (P. 5.) According to King, segregation and discrimination caused Negroes to lag behind Whites in academic, health, and moral standards. (After more than 50 years of integration where Negroes have received vastly more benefits and privileges than Whites ever had during the height of Jim Crow and White supremacy, Negroes still lag behind in academic, health, and moral standards. Consequently, the soft-minded people, according to King, were correct and the tough-minded people were wrong. Whatever caused Negroes to lag was not segregation or discrimination.)
(A tough-minded person would have studied the facts and discerned that the shortcomings of Negroes were innate. Segregation did not cause them, so integration would not eliminate them. Consequently, King proves himself to be soft-minded for failing to realize that genetics causes the Negro’s problem and not segregation. However, if King knew it, he was hypocritically deceiving his followers.)
Next, King discusses tenderheartedness. “Tough mindedness without tenderheartedness is cold and detached. . . . The hardhearted person never truly loves.” (Pp. 5-6.)
A hardhearted person is a utilitarian who values people according to their usefulness to him. “He is unmoved by the pains and afflictions of his brothers.” (P. 6.) (King, his followers, and integrationists in general were unmoved by the pains and afflictions that they brought upon Southerners. Many even enjoyed causing Southerners pain and afflictions. Therefore, they were hardhearted people.)
King notes that hardhearted people may give to charity, but they never give their spirit. “The hardhearted individual never sees people as people, but rather as mere objects or as impersonal cogs in an ever-turning wheel.” (P. 6.) (King insinuates that Southerners who opposed integration did not care about their Negro neighbors. Otherwise, they would have integrated with them. They merely saw Negroes as cheap labor. Only, Northerners, especially Northern integrationists, saw Negroes as real people who were equal to Whites. On the contrary, Southerners saw Negroes as real, concrete people. Northern integrationists saw Negroes as abstractions. They were merely tools to execute their Dixiephobic war to genocide Southerners. While most Southerners personally interact with Negroes daily, many Northerners may not personally interact with Negroes for a week or more. According to King’s description of hardheartedness, Northerners were more hardhearted than Southerners.)
Continuing, King writes, “To have serpentlike qualities devoid of dovelike qualities is to be passionless, mean, and selfish. To have dovelike without serpentlike qualities is to be sentimental, anemic, and aimless.” (P. 6.) The two need to be combined. (King’s serpent-like qualities far outweighed his dove-like qualities.)
Finally, King writes, that Negroes “cannot win the respect of the white people of the South or elsewhere if we are willing to trade the future of our children for our personal safety and comfort.” (P. 7.) (Negroes succeeded in destroying the respect that Whites had for the White race. Consequently, Negroes failed to gain the respect of Whites. People who cannot respect their own race cannot respect others.)
Concluding, King urges his (so-called) “nonviolent resistance, which combines tough mindedness and tenderheartedness and avoids the complacency and do-nothingness of the soft minded and the violence and bitterness of the hardhearted.” (P. 7.) (King’s tactics were not nonviolent. They were designed to cause violent reactions, and were highly successful in achieving violent responses to provocations — so much for tenderheartedness.)
In closing, King compares himself and his “nonviolent” tactics to God. The Bible shows God’s “tough mindedness in his justice and wrath and his tenderheartedness in his love and grace.” (P. 8.)
Copyright © 2024 by Thomas Coley Allen.
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