Martin Luther King broke the back of the political machine in 1963 and specifically the Democrat Party Establishment.
I would say that the Dems broke the backs of the blacks at that time, with the advent of the so-called Great Society. The blacks might have thought they prevailed. In fact, history has shown that the blacks have been destroyed by the events in the early 1960s.
I’ve been reflecting on what all came down in the early 60’s and it started with Birmingham’s ‘success’ in creating racial unrest and strife nationwide in 1963 ahead of the 1964 election.
JFK had the FBI on MLK, LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act, MLK got an audio tape of his sexual activity. The Civil Rights people cut back on protest.
Then came Selma in early 65 and worse riots yet at the 1960’s moved on.
LBJ moved in 1965 to create the Great Society not just to pick up where FDR left off, but to buy off and control the black population in urban areas and keep them voting Democrat.
The GOP has never wanted to undo the programs, only modify them at the edges with ‘work requirements’, ‘means testing’ etc.
But the drugs are so widespread and the crime that the Democrats are in danger of losing their grip as the violence over police shootings of people (many involved in drugs) demonstrates.
For a while MLK had the upper hand, but the descent into violence back then plus the control mechanisms of the Great Society came into play.
MLK kept trying to oppose Johnson and the Democrat machine and got into the anti-Vietnam War movement, which would upend Johnson in 1968, but not his legacy of big government programs the Republicans will never undo.
What the country needs is an MLK type movement on a higher plane with more commitment to non violence than he had and an understanding that the political machine will be unrelenting in trying to outmaneuver and destroy it.