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Is there a point to celebrating Martin Luther King Day?
Technically his birthday was on Thursday, but come this Monday the United States will once again celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Often remembered as an integral - perhaps the integral - part of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. King is a revered figure, often hailed by people as one of the greatest Americans to have lived. Recently, we’ve just had a film released called Selma, which chronicles the events of King’s attempts to get the 1965 Voting Rights Act passed. Personally, I find King to be a great man but the more I hear people talk about him the more I wonder why exactly we’re celebrating his birthday when a good chunk of this country - particularly those on the Right, but by no means exclusive to it - hates almost everything he actually stood for.
I’ve yet to see Selma, but one of my favorite portrayals of Dr. King in the media occurs in the Adult Swim cartoon The Boodocks, “Return of the King”: a fantasy episode exploring what would happen if, instead of being killed, MLK fell into a coma and woke up again in the 21st century. And in the episode, King’s nonviolent stance in the wake of September 11, 2001 earns him the scorn of the country. The whole thing is worth checking out (as is the actual show in general, at least until Season 4), but the reason I bring it up here is that The Boondocks actually reminds its audience that Dr. King was a radical. And his treatment in the show, from the Bush administration to average people on the street, recalls how a majority of the country actually saw King in his final year. The episode obviously isn’t real, but should King really exist today I can’t see people’s reactions being any different. They weren’t any different when he was actually alive. Far from his modern portrayal as a peaceful, nonthreatening man, the MLK of reality only became a notorious figure in society because he disturbed the peace, frightened the power structure of the Jim Crow-era South, and only became more radical as time went on. This was a man who spoke out against the American military-industrial complex, the Vietnam War, and called the United States government the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. This was a man who was staunchly anti-capitalist and stated that America needed to move towards a “democratic socialism”. Moreover, this was a man who believed that capitalism stood in the way of true democracy, supported a greater distribution of wealth amongst the people. This was a man who refused to condemn riots and demonstrations. Martin Luther King Jr. scared people because of his views, and many hated him for them. The book Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, written by historian David Garrow, did a lot to open my eyes on who MLK truly was and the world he lived in. Conservatives and liberals (I especially love King’s denouncement of the latter in the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”) alike hated and feared this man greatly. The fact that Americans disliked Dr. King when he was alive wouldn’t bother me so much if so many Americans nowadays weren’t so opposed to the things he stood for back then, and still continue to glorify him anyway. Many of the same people who applaud him for his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement would label him a racist or a race-baiter when if he were around to condemn things like the demonstrations in Ferguson or New York City following the police killings there (and let’s not kid ourselves, he wouldn’t speak out against them), or if he were to make statements like the one in my signature. Given the hate that conservatives have given President Obama for the Affordable Care Act, how would they realistically respond to his support for wealth distribution, socialism, unions, and worker’s rights? With all the pro-military, “Support Our Troops” propaganda that Americans buy into, would people really like a man who denounced their actions abroad. Realistically, in a nation that prides patriotism like this one, why would Americans like a man who thinks the U.S.A. is the “greatest purveyor of violence” in the world? The simple answer here, IMHO, is that the only reason we pretend to love Martin Luther King, Jr. is because he’s dead, because we would (and did, in fact) hate him if he were alive and saying the same things he did historically. In his death, Americans have created a false impression of King so as to avoid facing up to who he really was. That’s what Martin Luther King Day means to me, and I don’t see a point in celebrating that. At least, not as a nation. But what do you guys think? Does this holiday really have a point to it? |
Death often brings popularity and curiosity. Martin Luther King was a man living in the 1960s during racially-motivated times and trying to bring together the country when most people were against this. The radical element comes in here and if he were alive today, I don't believe he would be considered a radical because times have changed. But I do believe the holiday is the result of a lot of consideration made towards him since his death as people have realized he was not the communist that Hoover made him out to be.
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I see no point in celebrating a lot of holidays. I'm not even going to go into the money pit holidays as they're not worth my time, but George Washington's birthday is another great example of the massive levels of conformity going on in the United States. Why are we celebrating the birthday of some dead Federalist aristocrat with wooden teeth who basically played Army with the British and Julius Caesar'd a monarchy in the US? There is a stupid sense of notoriety in the United States over being part of the proletariat, which is basically nothing more than fuel for pretentiousness and more empty egoes. It goes hand-in-hand with American anti-intellectualism in the fact that people feel automatically righteous or "better" for being poor, or being in what they think is middle class, or whatever. (The few have always run things because the many cannot be trusted to have the intellect to even think in their own interests, and unless we evolve I don't see that changing anytime soon.) This ties into these sorts of nonsensical holidays in the big pot of feel-good bullshit that Americans yum up every day. It's just another ingredient. Carlin calls it the Official National Bullshit Story. But anyway, yeah. MLK. George Washington. A bunch of dead people we have a bunch of baseless fairytales on and no account of reality for. Also, who cares about their birthday? The abstract birthdate of some dude no one could possibly know anymore is such a crazy triviality to not be being questioned more.
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I know my place in relevance to the discussion, so I'll be brief.
The holiday should continue to exist, no question. But what the holiday stands for needs to be reevaluated and debated publicly. Incessantly, in my opinion. In my understanding, Martin Luther King Day serves as a way to lessen his legacy by reinforcing only the 'acceptable' aspects of MLK. Basically, it's another method of reducing the thought of him to a 'I Have a Dream' puppet that cancels out his historical record of radical activism, as beautifully pointed out in the original post. Perhaps another discussion that needs to happen is why the aforementioned puppet is carted around as the perfect civil rights leader as opposed to Malcolm X, who modern society remembers as the 'angry violent black man'. The same discussion would question why there is not a federal-level holiday for a man who ultimately fought the same fight as MLK. Back to the holiday, though. I absolutely believe the holiday needs to continue, but perhaps the date needs to be changed to an event/period of time that reflects the true identity and legacy of Martin Luther King. That really was a fantastic Boondocks episode, by the way. Definitely the first one that comes to mind in terms of provoking thoughtful discussion. |
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To use this example again: if King were alive today, how would you realistically expect people to react to a man who denounced the American military, amidst all the jingoistic “Support Our Troops” nonsense? Not only would King still be called a communist, people would be calling him a terrorist out to destroy the country and trying to link him to extremist Islam, very much like they currently do to Barack Obama (who’s more conservative than MLK ever was). Times haven't changed that much. |
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People are always going to be easily fooled and whether we want to admit it or not, the main people calling Martin Luther King a communist and muslim, things he wasn't just as Barack Obama isn't, are probably racists looking for a way to discredit him just as J. Edgar Hoover did. That is why I brought him up earlier. I believe he would still have people trying to say things about him which were outlandish, but I still believe the majority of Americans would realize he was not what they had been set out to believe as they did in the years following his death. |
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Everything else about the guy is a-okay. I only disagree with him on an economic basis. |
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Wealth distribution, regulation of business by the federal government, support for unions, anti-militarism and nonviolence as a foreign policy, anti-capitalism and socialism... these are all radical , controversial ideas in the United States. Dr. King supported all of them. He was a radical to the end and I couldn't imagine people wouldn't see him as one today. The only reason, IMHO, that he isn't seen as one now (and, to refer back to Harley Quinn's post, regarded the same way as Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party often are) is because he's dead and the majority in this country have no idea who MLK was outside of "I Have A Dream". And as far as politicians go, I couldn't see the major figures of the modern Republican Party or many conservative Democrats supporting King at all. Quote:
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Of course there's a point, he was a great man and deserves a ~Day~.
You know who doesn't deserve a day(or at least a day in his name)? Christopher Columbus. Celebrating Columbus day is like celebrating the kidnapping, slaughter and rape of America's indigenous people, but HEY! He accidentally discovered America! I don't think people should be taking the day off work for it, though. My reasoning there is that middle class workers and above get to take the day off to (NOT) remember what MLK did for the country. They just take the day off to take the day off. I can't help but think MLK wouldn't actually want that to be going on, aha. |
Lizardo, you've already summarized nicely my thoughts on the situation. The reason why the March on Washington was supported by the government at the time is the same reason why it's still glorified today; it's the same reason MLK is found in textbooks everywhere, whilst Malcolm X receives only a fraction of the attention; and the reason why those textbooks will almost always only focus on MLK's non-violent approach and not his more radical viewpoints that you've talked about.
It's not just because he's dead; it's been carefully put together because they want you to remember him as the 'perfect black citizen', passive, obedient and law-abiding. |
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"We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the sun. . ." <- No joke, someone actually told me this and full heartily believed this statement to be true. I have no regrets in laughing him into shame. MLK deserves a day I suppose. Never had an issue with it, but I think it should fall on his birthday. |
The Vikings discovered America first.
They were badasses like that. |
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There's a horror story to be told of every European colony, I'm afraid. |
Not anymore. With all this racial bs going on I don't see a point, he didn't ask for this, and it seems like a majority of the African American's don't give a shit with the way they're acting. If MLK was alive today he'd be pissed.
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Also what is "the way they're acting"? |
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“It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions... And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.” Here’s another quote that I had in my signature for a while, when it comes to ‘black crime’ that white people are so quick to point out: “It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.” While he didn’t approve of black crime and violence, King also saw the bigger issue at hand. And if King were alive, he’d be angrier at the white society that’s in power than the black one that isn’t, because he saw that as the bigger problem. |
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You can't change a society for the better without recognizing what its problems are. Pointing out that white males in power were, and still are (much more so than the black men who mostly aren't), the biggest obstacle to an equal and just American society is not trying to replace white supremacy with black supremacy. It’s simply pointing out a truth about the United States and its race relations. If all you have to say to the words of King himself is “whatever man” then chances are you’d be one of the very people who stood in the way of his dream back then and continue to do so now. Quote:
You say that you respect MLK and what he did, but how can you do that without understanding what he actually stood for? Moreover, how are denouncements against “the blacks” respectful of anything King was actually about? Quote:
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You don't seem to understand that none of this will ever change until us as a society stops allowing the media to brainwash the masses and for us as the people to demand change, and push to become together as one. It's not just the whites, it's the fact that the media wants to keep us separated, don't you see that? I agree with what King was trying to accomplish and I look to him as a very powerful man and I think every black person should idolize him. But this issue is out of mine and your control, it's gonna take more for things to change. As I said, us as the people in society needs to demand change instead of getting sucked into the media. The media's the enemy, not the whites.
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