“When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
These are not words spoken by a politically moderate man. These are not words uttered by a neoliberal committed to civility and order. Above all, these are not words that are celebrated as much as the man who professed them.
To those who have been provided with the traditional whitewashed education about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his quote above may come as a surprise. At least for me, it seemed so far-off from the MLK I was taught about in school with countless screenings of his “I Have A Dream” speech and the “Our Friend, Martin” animation. Throughout my childhood, Dr. King became an emblematic figure of peaceful activism, of compassionate teaching, of unity – of course, Dr. King was all of this but he was also more. And so, the issue is not the mainstream’s public appraisals for Martin’s calls for equality – rather it is the fact that the mainstream deliberately ignores and sanitizes his radical demands.
It is often taught in schools that Dr. King went to jail for peacefully protesting. But what is not mentioned is his intense denouncement of the white moderate in his 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. The white moderate, who despite claims to fight for equality through empty words of support, impedes the freedom of Black people in America more than the KKK or other blatantly racist individuals according to Dr. King. This is because the white moderate “is more devoted to order than to justice”. Anything that challenges the status-quo, then, is instantly looked down upon by them. Dr. King actively condemns the complacency of White America throughout this letter and upholds the power that disruption has in activist efforts. And yet, all that is taught about this momentous point in his life, is that he was “nonviolent”.
Beyond being a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King also spoke against the United States imperialism and xenophobia. This is most clear in his 1968 address “Beyond Vietnam” where he backs his anti-war stance with an acknowledgement of the “Western arrogance” that seeks to prevent the self-determination of people of color. By bringing light to the war crimes committed by U.S. soldiers in this address, Dr. King embraces solidarity with the people of Vietnam. Shortly after giving this address, Dr. King was attacked vehemently by news outlets for being a communist. This, once again, is rarely touched upon in lesson plans regarding Dr. King.
Concluding this speech, Dr. King pronounces that America needs an immediate “radical revolution of values” – that is to say, it needs to move from being a “thing-oriented society” to a “person-oriented society”. Such critique of U.S. capitalism, and relatedly its imperialism, reveals that Dr. King was increasingly becoming a leftist towards the end of his life.
There is so much more to unpack about Dr. King’s legacy – from how much he was detested while he was alive, to how much his words of peace are casually thrown around by white liberals. It is because of this that it is not just for us to simply focus on how he sought “peace and unity”. Today, we must remember the power of his passionate words and radical actions for liberation.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/21/martin-luther-king-jr-day-legacy-radical
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/04/martin-luther-king-cornel-west-legacy
https://www.alternet.org/2015/04/riot-language-unheard-9-mlk-quotes-mainstream-media-wont-cite/
https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/teaching-about-kings-radical-approach-to-social-justice