I think the issue is use of this one quote ignores the
by wpkirish (2024-01-08 09:10:56)

In reply to: I hope this is sarcasm  posted by 3AONEILL08

Cannot Reply Return to Political

larger and more complete message of KIng's work. I have linked below a piece by Kaitlyn Byrd below that discusses this. I think the following passage is relevant.

"But too often the power of that legacy is used by white voices to minimize the systemic violence of racism, sow complacency and resentment at majoritarian sacrifice and to characterize the work of his life as complete rather than abandoned. Rather than shine a light on the ways our society has fallen short of its incredible promise, past and present, the brilliance of Dr. King’s aspirations are used to make invisible the perpetrators of common violence, the silent disapproval of white moderates and the disparities in income, housing, justice and mortality that have become no less acute with time."

Often the words of Dr. King are used to try and silence those who are fighting the battles he would be fighting today.

Michael Heriot also discussed this in the guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/17/mlk-is-revered-today-but-the-real-king-would-make-white-people-uncomfortable

MLK also said many things about what he believed was necessary to reach the point where that would be possible. Things like


“The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and racism. The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power”.
—King to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) board on March 30, 1967.

“…the price that America must pay for the continued oppression of the Negro and other minority groups is the price of its own destruction.”

—The American Dream: July 4, 1965

“White Americans must recognize that justice for black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society.”

—Where Do We Go from Here? 1967

“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn. The reality of substantial investment to assist Negroes into the twentieth century, adjusting to Negro neighbors and genuine school integration, is still a nightmare for all too many white Americans…These are the deepest causes for contemporary abrasions between the races. Loose and easy language about equality, resonant resolutions about brotherhood fall pleasantly on the ear, but for the Negro there is a credibility gap he cannot overlook. He remembers that with each modest advance the white population promptly raises the argument that the Negro has come far enough. Each step forward accents an ever-present tendency to backlash.”

— Where Do We Go From Here: 1967







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