Whitewashing MLK

"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."

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, of which the sentence in the introduction has become known all over the world. It's too bad though that not nearly enough people know the rest of the speech, or the rest of MLK's writings, interviews and speeches. Not nearly enough people know that in his time he was despised by the majority of white Americans, and that he was seen as a radical extremist who posed a danger to white Americans' "way of life." That was in 1963, not even 60 years ago, so it's remarkable, to say the least, that the sentence about his children being judged by the content of their character is now so very popular in right-wing politics and rhetoric. That is until we explore exactly why it has become so popular.

You see, this sentence is used, almost exclusively, as a rebuttal to progressive policies seeking to improve the lifes of African Americans. It's used as evidence that racism is a thing of the past, that there's no such thing as systemic racism, or most disturbing of all, to actively push a far right-wing agenda. You'll hear them say things like: "if dr. Martin Luther King were here today, he would be absolutely offended. You know, he wanted people to be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin," when commenting on "woke identity politics" from the "radical left." In their opinion Martin Luther King and African Americans had already won when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law on 2 July 1964. On that date, according to these right-wing grifters, systemic racism ended and African Americans suddenly became equal citizens.

This is nonsense, of course. Systemic racism is alive and well today. Just because there are no laws in the books anymore specifically mentioning black Americans, that doesn't at all mean that there aren't laws that specifically target them. Now I could list examples of this, like several voter registration laws or the legal distinctions between crack and cocaine, or I could go on about how the past resonates in the present with regards to generational wealth, but I won't; you can look that up if you're still ignorant about these racial issues. What I want to focus on here, and what the below linked video does better than I ever could, is the right-wing's extremely disingenuous and opportunistic use of Martin Luther King's legacy.

Like I said in the beginning, Martin Luther King was a radical, an extremist in his time. And if he were alive today, he would still be fighting the same fight, he would still be dreaming about that day. His words are twisted and misinterpreted, on purpose, to mean that he wanted us to be color-blind. His words are translated to mean that affirmative action or reparations are things to be scuffed at because they imply unequal treatment for people of different color. This is so wrong. In fact, if we only read the rest of the very speech of which only one sentence is ever quoted by the right-wing grifters, we'd know how wrong it is. Here's a bit of it:

In a sense we've come to our nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
_{source: American Rhetoric}

You can follow the link to read the rest, and I suggest you do so. More importantly though, watch the brilliant video by the "News Dude" Cody Johnston linked below; I've barely scratched the surface of the malicious right-wing hypocrisy here and Cody does a great job delivering this important and sad issue with some much needed humor. And he also covers some of Martin Luther King's other works, painting a complete picture of this important historical figure.

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