Let's honor Martin Luther King for who he REALLY was

Yesterday I sent this e-mail to the Neigborhood Schools Alliance and assorted other people of importance:

"Here's my concern about moving the MLK event from a school --Jefferson-- to a church.  I watched the festivities on TV and what I mostly heard was a quite narrowly defined religious message --to wit,  you can be 'free at last' or 'reach the promised land' by accepting Jesus as your savior.

"I know that Martin Luther King was an ordained Baptist minister, but  that's not why he won the Nobel Peace Prize nor why he's honored with a national holiday.  His mission was one demanding the end to the injustices of slavery,  Jim Crow segregation, and racism, a mission which was later expanded to include opposition to the Vietnam War and the advocacy of economic justice for poor people regardless of race.  He may have personally believed in the saving grace of Jesus, but that wasn't his message to the nation, at least not one that I heard.  His was a call for peace, nonviolence, and social justice, not a call for 'personal' salvation.

"I speak as one who likes gospel music, but the events at the Highland Christian Center were more like a Christian revival meeting than an occasion to honor the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King.   Had the event been held at Jefferson, I'm convinced that the tone of the festivities would have been far more inclusive."

Last night I came across a couple of pieces that reaffirm my concern with the tendency to oversimplify and distort King's message.  The first was appropriately published on Dissident Voice, appropriately because Martin Luther King was nothing if not a dissident:

"The guy they show us isn't MLK. They show us a saint, even a martyr to the cause of racial justice, a goal that most Americans think we achieved a long time ago.           

"The icon serves an important role. It preserves the power structure, a strange claim when considering MLK was a subversive through and through." ...

"To his racial justice agenda, he added anti-militarism and           economic justice. It took him some time, but he came out against the Vietnam War.  Indeed, he came out against all wars."

And this piece from the American Prospect reminding us why King was in Memphis where he was assassinated.  It concludes:

"The best way to honor his memory is to continue the struggle for human dignity, workers' rights, living wages, and social justice."

Lastly here's King's speech --"A Time to Break the Silence"-- in 1967 when he announced his opposition to the Vietnam War.

It's my fervent hope that a truly progressive Democratic candidate for President will emerge to once again take up Martin Luther King's "struggle".

Comments

[DarePDX]

Having read a reasonable amount about King I find it hard to believe that you could ever seperate his actions from his faith. They are intertwined signficiantly and guide his actions very clearly to me.

[Idler]

I don't think it's hard to distinguish the secular mission of MLK from his role as a preacher, though the latter obviously informed the former and is far from meaningless in understanding his personal commitment. However, the U.S. has a day dedicated to him if anything despite his leftist sympathies and vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, not because of them.

[Sponge]

MLK, Jr., was a powerful voice for a cause that we can all embrace, regardless of party affiliation or religious heritage. His assassination at the height of his influence has secured his place in history. I have balked, however, at celebrating his life. As much as I admire his charismatic leadership, his personal life casts a cloud over celebrating him as a man. The plagiarizing of his doctoral thesis, and unfaithfulness to his wife, diminish his stature, in my eyes. He once acknowledged that, given his national prominence, even small mistakes would be magnified into big ones. He was right. As righteous as his cause was, his personal integrity couldn't pass the test.

I once asked an influential black community leader about King's lack of personal integrity. His response disappointed me. He said that in the black community, given their history of oppression, those things didn't matter. Only the ascent of those social and political objectives King sought should be considered in his legacy. If his assessment is correct, our veneration of the man is shallow. But I do agree with above quote: "The best way to honor his memory is to continue the struggle for human dignity, workers' rights, living wages, and social justice."

[Idler]

MLK's failings are disappointing, but they don't negate his heroism. Many heroic men have been flawed in serious ways, no doubt some we don't know about. It's part of the biography. The community leader was wrong, but MLK was still great.