It’s a shame that so much of Dr. King’s life is presented without context. You would think that the last thing he ever did was to give the “I Have A Dream” speech. However, there were 5 more years to his life that no one discusses. It was a period where he transitioned from not just focusing on the civil rights of black people to looking at the impact of war and poverty on this nation (in fact, many believe it was his stance on Vietnam that ultimately cost him his life).
April 4th will mark the 40th year since his assassination and CNN profiled his last campaign. From what was contained in this article, it seems clear that King knew that he was embarking on a mission that could very well mean the end for him.
Many of us heard of the “Poor People’s Crusade.” It was King’s most revolutionary effort to get America to really focus on the issue of poverty in this country (sigh…just think of where we’d be today if Dr. King’s crusade had been allowed to bear fruit).
However, what is not shared often about King is the degree to which he believed in this effort. Just check out some of these passages from the article:
Most Americans think of King as the “I Have a Dream” preacher at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. But the man who made his final trip to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968 had become radical, scholars and activists say. King was gambling his legacy on a final crusade that was so revolutionary, it alarmed many of his closest advisers. Some became concerned about his emotional stability.
And this:
What King was saying by this time was even more provocative than what he planned. In his final presidential address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he said the movement should address “the question of restructuring the whole of American society.”
He called for a guaranteed annual wage for all able-bodied people, he urged the nationalization of some industries, and he told people to “question the capitalistic economy.”
“It didn’t cost the nation one penny to integrate lunch counters … but now we are dealing with issues that cannot be solved without the nation spending billions of dollars and undergoing a radical redistribution of economic power,” King said during a trip to Mississippi in February 1968.
And, finally, this:
The campaign was so risky that King told LaFayette, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader, during their phone call that he was going to appoint a new layer of executives to the civil rights group he co-founded.
“He was anticipating that we might be hit with some assassinations, so he wanted somebody left to assume responsibilities to keep it going,” said LaFayette, who was appointed director of the Poor People’s Campaign.
As we read this, we shouldn’t be surprised that this put Dr. King’s life in danger. What he was talking about changing the way wealth is concentrated in this country, something we see the effects of today.
So, when talking about Dr. King, don’t let anyone put him in the little box of the dreamer. Remind them (and, if necessary, inform them) that he was more than a talker. He was an activist who gave up his life in pursuit of justice for all people.
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It’s interesting that the title of this blog is “The MLK nobody talks about”. From the outset, let me say that MLK was a great man. He stood for every man and woman, regardless of race, who was oppressed.
At the same time, we can’t forget he was human. In his “I Have a Dream” speech, he asked that his children be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin. He is right, but we have to hold Dr. King to that same standard. His personal character was somewhat the antithesis of what he asked others to do.
His plagiarism of his doctoral dissertation, history of marital infidelity and liberal use of other’s sermons is well documented (I would suggest reading Abernathy’s “And the Walls Came Tumbling Down”). In short, we should live the dream but realize that MLK, like JFK and other prominent people we put on pedestals, was just as human as you or me.
We owe it to our children to present history as it actually happened. In instances such as Kennedy’s “Ask not…” speech and King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”, we need to love the message but not present the messenger as a deity. That Orwellian approach to history only taints King’s call for honesty and integrity in our character.
Steve, I honestly don’t get the point of your comments. Don’t get me wrong…I’m glad you took the time to comment but, in the context of the post, I just don’t get it.
Okay, according to you, if he cheated on his wife and plagiarized, he shouldn’t have spoken out about racism, classism, violence and war? More importantly, I give a person credit for taking a stand when knowing that doing so could mean his/her death.
I don’t deify any person but, to try to invalidate the good done by a person by bringing up things that had little to do with their work is odd, to say the least.
It’s sad that, reading between the lines, Dr. King may very well have been influenced by socialist thinkers and **possibly** had, nearing the end of his life, come to believe in his own “greatness”,i.e., a huge ego.
I mean that in the sense that he felt his sole perspective and/or the perspective of his followers, contained the “right” template for society and American economics. (In fact, the ideas were merely American socialism)
A minority viewpoint faces enormous hurdles in (quote) “… restructuring the whole of American society.” (unquote) How could they be qualified to speak for the majority ?
It’s unquestionably HUGELY presumptuous that he/they assumed they knew what society **should be**…or what economics **should be**…!!
In the end, Dr. King’s historic “Dream” speech rightly stands as a socially inspiring testament that itself, has brought about enormous change.
The socialist ideas and ramblings are best left to disintegrate and fade into the ages…where they should reside as simple footnotes in history.
King was a great man, a true American patriot. It’s unfortunate that the powers that be sinfully tried to quiet an everlasting voice for freedom. Yes, he made some poor choices but his life shouldn’t be judged totally on those particular choices. We have a systemic problem in American society with character assassination. The truth of King’s story is that he wasn’t killed trying to integrate; he was assassinated due to his wanting to correct the distribution of wealth in America. This act of terror shows where the true racism & injustice lies, in the American Financial system. He wanted an overhaul of the entire system, and guess what? They killed him!
Hi JP - I think you missed the point. The title of the blog deals with the person we don’t talk about and what I wrote is a major aspect of Dr. King’s life. The title did not restrict us to only the good things but his history and legacy in general. At the same time, as I noted, it’s not just Dr. King I’m talking about; children should be taught the deeper truths behind our history and not just be asked to memorize facts about an event. For example, I can remember exactly where I was and what was said when both JFK and MLK were assassinated. I’ve had the choice, as an adult, to simply memorize facts about their deaths or, instead, dig into their histories and really understand the man and how their lives, as a whole, affected our country. Many of our historical figures had short-comings (e.g., Thomas Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal” while holding people in slavery) and, despite that, their ideas and beliefs are admirable. We shouldn’t simply ask, “What did JFK or MLK or FDR do that was good?” Rather, perhaps we should ask, “Who was this person; what led them to do the things they did; how do you think their personal ethics affected their personal persona?” Regardless of who the debate is about, there are many questions such as those that lead to a deeper understanding of our rich history.
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