Like a number of his fellow World War 2 conscientious objectors, William Stafford protested the practice of racial segregation in America. During his years in college at the University of Kansas in the mid 1930s, Stafford took part in student efforts to desegregate the dining hall. In his 1987 poetry book An Oregon Message, Stafford published a poem entitled "Serving with Gideon" in which he recounts his Kansas childhood and carries a cup of soda to an African American elevator operator. "I was almost one the boys," Stafford recalls, referring to the white men who ran his town; but he soon realizes that he should be standing with the black man they want nothing to do with. This poem reminds us that those in power don't have to claim the privilege given to them by society, but can instead stand with the outcast, even if it means becoming outcast ourselves. You can read an analysis of "Serving with Gideon" with Stafford's political thought and action in mind here.
Martin Luther King, Jr. became marginalized when he spoke out publicly against the Vietnam War, and many speculate his anti-war speeches contributed to the motivation of his assassination. Stafford was not a leader of a popular movement for justice, but like King he saw the problems of war and racism as inextricably linked. (See Every War Has Two Losers, the book or the film, for more of Stafford's thoughts on justice and peace.
We know that the efforts of the civil rights movements in America entered the thoughts of Stafford, because five days following King's death, Stafford wrote the following reflection in his journal:
Can injustice one way be corrected without the interim reaction that tries to impose injustice the other way? (April 9, 1968. Every War Has Two Losers, page 31)
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