the style of his leadership, how it was formed. how you made sense of it. andy young has suggested that martin was very much the baptist preacher with the authoritarianism that goes with that. and my whole impression was very different. now he worked very closely or my brothers worked very closely with him. the real estate broker, slater. they are on record as saying in the meetings that they held in albany where the guys were really going at martin, you know. i mean, with no let or hindrance. he would sit there for two, two and a half hours and take all the stuff in. and not blink. but not come back aggressively but simply absorb it. you could say, hey, arrogance. you know? walks off and comes back with a decision whereas slater and shabin thought, no, this is a sign of someone who takes his counsel, someone who has respect for the other. someone who knows how to listen and can think on his feet. now there would be the element of mysticism, to detach yourself from yourself s
one of the most interesting things about martin for me was the question of his leadership, the style of his leadership, how it was formed. how you made sense of it. andy young has suggested that martin was very much the baptist preacher with the authoritarianism that goes with that. and my whole impression was very different. now he worked very closely or my brothers worked very closely with him. the real estate broker, slater. they are on record as saying in the meetings that they held in albany where the guys were really going at martin, you know. i mean, with no let or hindrance. he would sit there for two, two and a half hours and take all the stuff in. and not blink. but not come back aggressively but simply absorb it. you could say, hey, arrogance. you know? walks off and comes back with a decision whereas slater and shabin thought, no, this is a sign of someone who takes his counsel, someone who has respect for the other. someone who knows how to listen and can think o
once and that was at fisk. in the middle of the montgomery business he came up and stayed with us for a few days. hanging loose a bit. we had quite a few discussions and the impression he made on me has stayed with me. you must understand so many of us in the south have tended to be suspicious of preachers. there was nothing in his personality that suggested the tartuphian figure. on the contrary. this is someone who was relaxed, engaged, interested and able to think with the problem, whatever it happened to be. he had a wonderful visit with us and made an indelible impression, precisely because of who he was, what he was, being comfortable in his own skin which is often unusual or difficult for us. but it wasn t for martin. i always felt a sympathy there because people often think of folks who are comfortable in their skin as arrogant. there was nothing arrogant about martin king. but he was comfortable with himself and he was not a nerd. an int lech wall maybe, but not a ne