ysabetwordsmith | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes

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... that are less publicized. Well, you can see why. That man knew a lot of records that might break the record player if left on for very long.

So play 'em again.

Current Mood: busy
Crossposts: http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/2680131.html

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From:

brushwolf

I'm actually very bitter about how King's been presented. It's almost as though the damage conservatives couldn't do to the man and his legacy by directly attacking him then, they did by politically correcting him, making him this nice peaceful rotund remote figure. So as a much younger left-leaning moderate, I thought, eh, overhyped demagogue. The guys who did the real heavy lifting were guys like W.E. DuBois. (Now that I'm older and further left, I still think that King gets hyped because he's the easiest of the Civil Rights leaders to make conservative-safe. He's on record as kinda thinking socialism might be a good idea, rather than being an outspoken socialist like A. Philip Randolph, who was a socialist and said so. And of course King was Christian, so you never have to deal with the dreaded spectre of an atheist being the hero.)

And then, while driving to work one day, the college station played the whole war in Vietnam speech. I had no clue who it was at first and honestly I thought at first whoever it was, was talking about the war in Iraq which I'd protested. No wait, he's talking about Vietnam. Oh, so that's King?

And from there I started seeing that the historical figure I'd dismissed as not doing enough was the real thing. Was the sort of person I'd want to march with.

One of my favorite things he said, though I can't quote it verbatum, is from "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail" in which he basically describes Christianity in circa 2013 politics;

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent–and often even vocal–sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

He is far more complex than most people realize. Then again, so are a majority of historic figures presented as one-dimensional. Any time you see that going on, it pretty much indicates that there is information missing.

From:

cmcmck

Indeed so- being, as I am, on the other side of the pond (and another example of one who started left and has moved further so as she's aged) it took me a long time to come across people like Mahaliah Jackson, Stokeley Carmichael and Malcolm X.

Also being a historian I also hear you on the complexity of those presented as one dimensional. It took years for someone like Mary Seacole (the 'Black Florence Nightingale')to even be acknowledged here at all, let alone as a very complex figure indeed.

From:

brushwolf

Yeah, but I don't know if I'd use the word "complex." It seems coherent and straightforward; the guy didn't like injustice, and he thought Blacks were especially screwed by American class inequality (directly and indirectly), and it's not like he could offend people much worse than he already had, so he went right ahead and said things.

From:

cmcmck

'it's not like he could offend people much worse than he already had, so he went right ahead and said things'

Oh yes! Belonging, as I do myself, to an oppressed minority, I long ago gave up caring to be nice to people if they are being particularly bigoted, narrow minded or stupid!

From:

ysabetwordsmith

There is no point in doing anything to please people who have already decided to hate you for what you are. Fuck 'em. Be yourself. It's the worst thing you can do to them, and best you can do to yourself.