Posted on 01/21/2008 6:02:55 AM PST by BenLurkin
NEW YORK - They are some of the most famous words in American history: "I have a dream ..." And the man who said them has become an icon.
Martin Luther King Jr. has certainly gotten his share of attention this year, the subject of a presidential campaign controversy over his legacy that blew up just around the time of the holiday created to honor him.
But nearly 40 years after his assassination in April 1968, after the deaths of his wife and of others who knew both the man and what he stood for, some say King is facing the same fate that has befallen many a historical figure — being frozen in a moment in time that ignores the full complexity of the man and his message.
"Everyone knows, even the smallest kid knows about Martin Luther King, can say his most famous moment was that "I have a dream" speech," said Henry Louis Taylor Jr., professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo.
"No one can go further than one sentence," he said. "All we know is that this guy had a dream, we don't know what that dream was."
At the time of his death, King was working on anti-poverty and anti-war issues. He had spoken out against the Vietnam War in 1967, and was in Memphis in April 1968 in support of striking sanitation workers.
King had come a long way from the crowds who cheered him at the 1963 March on Washington, when he was introduced as "the moral leader of our nation" — and when he pronounced "I have a dream" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
By taking on issues outside segregation, he had lost the support of many newspapers and magazines, and his relationship with the White House had suffered, said Harvard Sitkoff, a professor of history at the University of New Hampshire who has written a recently published book on King.
"He was considered by many to be a pariah," Sitkoff said.
But he took on issues of poverty and militarism because he considered them vital "to make equality something real and not just racial brotherhood but equality in fact," Sitkoff said.
While there has been scholarly study of King and everything he did, that knowledge hasn't translated into the popular culture perception of him and the civil rights movement, said Richard Greenwald, professor of history at Drew University.
"We're living increasingly in a culture of top 10 lists, of celebrity biopics which simplify the past as entertainment or mythology," he said. "We lose a view on what real leadership is by compressing him down to one window."
That does a disservice to both King and society, said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University.
By freezing him at that point, by putting him on a pedestal of perfection that doesn't acknowledge his complex views, "it makes it impossible both for us to find to new leaders and for us to aspire to leadership," Harris-Lacewell said.
She believes it's important for Americans in 2008 to remember how disliked King was in 1968.
"If we forget that, then it seems like the only people we can get behind must be popular," Harris-Lacewell said. "Following King meant following the unpopular road, not the popular one."
In becoming an icon, King's legacy has been used by people all over the political spectrum, said Glenn McNair, associate professor of history at Kenyon College.
He's been part of the 2008 presidential race, in which Barack Obama could be the country's first black president. Obama has invoked King, and Sen. John Kerry endorsed Obama by saying "Martin Luther King said that the time is always right to do what is right."
Not all the references have been received well. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton came under fire when she was quoted as saying King's dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
King has "slipped into the realm of symbol that people use and manipulate for their own purposes," McNair said.
Harris-Lacewell said that is something people need to push back against.
"It's not OK to slip into flat memory of who Dr. King was, it does no justice to us and makes him to easy to appropriate," she said. "Every time he gets appropriated, we have to come out and say that's not OK. We do have the ability to speak back."
Those close associations with known communists should have sunk any scheme to create a national holiday for one so undeserving.
Honor George Washington Carver without whose scientific efforts Jimmy Carter would be just another cracker dirt farmer.
MLK’s private life was also essentially that of Bill Clinton or JFK. Nothing admirable at all there.
Agreed!
Especially since he was a Reverend.
Some wiki excerpts from an article on Thurgood Marshall....
“Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 2, 1908. His original name was Thoroughgood but he shortened it to Thurgood in second grade. His father, William Marshall, instilled in him an appreciation for the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law. Additionally, as a child, he was punished for his school misbehavior by being forced to read the Constitution, which he later said piqued his interest in the document. Marshall was a descendant of slaves.”
“During the 1950s, Thurgood Marshall developed a friendly relationship with J. Edgar Hoover, the director the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1956, for example, he privately praised Hoover’s campaign to discredit T.R.M. Howard, a maverick civil rights leader from Mississippi.”
I therefore tend to think he was much, much more influential in White America accepting Black Americans based on one’s character than MLK and all of the Civil Rights leaders combined.
The vilification of the honorable Senator Jesse Helms was a real hatchet job! He knew what credentials the plagerizing MLK was weighted down with.
Militarism and equality? Does that mean he fovored everyone's being equal? Or, does that mean he meant to use military tactics to gain "equality"?
King was one of those rare individuals: men who achieve fame rather early in life, then have the misfortune (or perhaps fortune) to die before the inevitable tarnishing of reputation that comes when success turns sour.
Not sure what you're saying regarding his notion of militarism and equality.
As far as I'm concerned, the guy wasn't all bad. But he was mostly bad.
Translation: He favored international Marxism.
Thanks, I will try to find the time.
I am really tired of the hype surrounding this guy.
Let’s Honour the man who really won black civil rights - Fredrick Douglas.
“....The Gods can also destroy!”
“Translation:He favored international Marxism”.
And thus set the tone for the soft sell Marxism that would deform and define the inner city(Democrat robot vote) mentality for the next 50 years.
Also, I see Huckabee favoring international Marxism with his “feed the poor(Tha perr!),tax the rich,open the borders,” hey all we white guys are gonna be a minority some day(Right Jorge Abusta)”! Pucker up Hugo, I gots kisses for jou!
King was of the “stopped clock is right twice a day” ilk. Who could argue with content of character outweighing color of skin, and nonviolent protest as a means to the end? And his willingness to face the possibilty of death for his cause was admirable.
His personal life and belief in socialist systems are another matter. Overall, I rate him more positive than negative. (and you all know how much they pay for MY ratings!)
“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” -—MLK
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