I just finished reading The Radical King, a collection of writings by Martin Luther King Jr. The right-wingers who fought Dr. King tooth and nail during his lifetime have now taken to misrepresenting him with a whitewashed (or as Cornel West says, Santa-Clausified) image of a soft-spoken, non-confrontational, “color-blind” teddy bear. Conservatives know exactly one line from the “I Have a Dream” speech, and they’re currently trotting it out to attack school boards over Critical Boogeyman Theory:
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
I dunno, the people spewing anti-CRT nonsense would probably be better off being judged by the color of their skin. The content of their character does not impress.
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None of the above is new, of course. The things said about Dr. King in his lifetime are being said about Black Lives Matter today.
When the anti-CRT crusaders try to drag in Dr. King, I suggest a few choice quotes from his Letter From a Birmingham Jail — which is, unfortunately, just as relevant today:
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never."
Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history.
I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action.
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In Dartagnan’s diary Trump warns Republicans ‘will not be voting’ in 2022 or 2024 unless his big lie is proven, rudewarrior creatively repurposes an Obama line.
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