In the end his approach yielded the best fruit, working with people. Even despite that in his day he was one of the most loathed people in the USA for his efforts to help Black folk. Probably also helped that there wasn't social media in the day that would further reinforce epistemic closure.
Unfortunately nowadays Dr. King is a cliché, given "death of the author." Just a name on a street so some folks can say, "Look we made an olive branch towards a token effort at racial equality, but we're not going to actually change the underlying conditions Dr. King advocated to change." And of course, conservatives as you point out get to use The One Quote and send it through the rightwing media human centipede to justify getting rid of restorative programs.
One of the "best" things I get to notice are the number of expressways, typically created in the time of urban renewal where Black neighborhoods were bulldozed for the convenience of people who lived in suburbs Black people weren't allowed to live in. That I think is emblematic of America and its relationship with Dr. King.
As does Stephen, I myself have struggled with the admonition to "love thy neighbor", because most of these chuckleheads are about as lovable as cholera. But I have also always interpreted that line to mean we are morally bound to recognize the humanity in all of us, that even the worst people are made in the image of God (I am not a religious person myself but I have read my Bible!) and no acts we commit on earth can take that away from any of us. It's very easy to see these cretins as nonhuman mutants and treat them accordingly, but that diminishes us as humans ourselves, and I think that's my biggest takeaway.
If you haven’t already, Thomas Ricks wrote a great book analyzing the Civil Rights Movement as a nonviolent military campaign, and it was absolutely excellent.
Thanks for a detailed and insightful post about MLK. He's more than a symbol or an icon. He is the best of the American ideal. Not perfect, but always trying to the right thing, no matter how hard it is.
Dr. King was right about there being a difference between love and like. No one wants to spend time with people they don't like, but they can love them. It's not easy loving some people, and impossible to like some.
His approach was certainly more effective than that of his more radical critics—he also knew how to use economic leverage (the bus boycott wouldn’t have worked if the Montgomery bus system wasn’t so dependent on black riders’ fares) and that appealing to moderate whites was the key to change. On the other side of the battle, openly racist goons like Eastland and Thurmond were far less potent than subtle operators like Richard Russell (who could convince conservatives that opposing civil rights laws could be justified by nonracist principles).
The key is to remember that it may be fun to fire up those who are already in your tent, but the real war is for those who aren’t yet there but could be. King and his allies did this very well and theres much to learn from them.
I don't know if that approach will work in the disinformation age.
I've tried civility. I've tried reasoning. I've tried citing factual support.
It doesn't work or sway anyone.
So I turned to mocking. It doesn't work either, but it does make me feel better.
Great post on Dr King. Thank you SER.
In the end his approach yielded the best fruit, working with people. Even despite that in his day he was one of the most loathed people in the USA for his efforts to help Black folk. Probably also helped that there wasn't social media in the day that would further reinforce epistemic closure.
Unfortunately nowadays Dr. King is a cliché, given "death of the author." Just a name on a street so some folks can say, "Look we made an olive branch towards a token effort at racial equality, but we're not going to actually change the underlying conditions Dr. King advocated to change." And of course, conservatives as you point out get to use The One Quote and send it through the rightwing media human centipede to justify getting rid of restorative programs.
One of the "best" things I get to notice are the number of expressways, typically created in the time of urban renewal where Black neighborhoods were bulldozed for the convenience of people who lived in suburbs Black people weren't allowed to live in. That I think is emblematic of America and its relationship with Dr. King.
"𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵."
~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story”; 1958.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnnGHx_WNCw
As does Stephen, I myself have struggled with the admonition to "love thy neighbor", because most of these chuckleheads are about as lovable as cholera. But I have also always interpreted that line to mean we are morally bound to recognize the humanity in all of us, that even the worst people are made in the image of God (I am not a religious person myself but I have read my Bible!) and no acts we commit on earth can take that away from any of us. It's very easy to see these cretins as nonhuman mutants and treat them accordingly, but that diminishes us as humans ourselves, and I think that's my biggest takeaway.
If you haven’t already, Thomas Ricks wrote a great book analyzing the Civil Rights Movement as a nonviolent military campaign, and it was absolutely excellent.
Thanks for a detailed and insightful post about MLK. He's more than a symbol or an icon. He is the best of the American ideal. Not perfect, but always trying to the right thing, no matter how hard it is.
Dr. King was right about there being a difference between love and like. No one wants to spend time with people they don't like, but they can love them. It's not easy loving some people, and impossible to like some.
His approach was certainly more effective than that of his more radical critics—he also knew how to use economic leverage (the bus boycott wouldn’t have worked if the Montgomery bus system wasn’t so dependent on black riders’ fares) and that appealing to moderate whites was the key to change. On the other side of the battle, openly racist goons like Eastland and Thurmond were far less potent than subtle operators like Richard Russell (who could convince conservatives that opposing civil rights laws could be justified by nonracist principles).
The key is to remember that it may be fun to fire up those who are already in your tent, but the real war is for those who aren’t yet there but could be. King and his allies did this very well and theres much to learn from them.