Here are some MLK quotes that suggest he'd likely be standing with other black leaders today rather than against them:
We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.
We must stand up and say, "I'm black and I'm beautiful," and this self-affirmation is the black man's need, made compelling by the white man's crimes against him.
And here are MLK proposals and plans that most Conservatives would likely vehemently disagree with:
The Poor People's Campaign was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The Campaign demanded an Economic Bill of Rights with five planks:
1."A meaningful job at a living wage"
2."A secure and adequate income" for all those unable to find or do a job
3."Access to land" for economic uses
4."Access to capital" for poor people and minorities to promote their own businesses
5.Ability for ordinary people to "play a truly significant role" in the government
All of those ideas are great, as long as government is not responsible for providing them.
You’re missing the point. I’m no fan of MLK, but his actions and other writings still don’t discredit his “content” quote. That quote is still valid, regardless of who said it. It is a seminal comment that applies equally across all barriers that we create, whether physical or psychological.
I lived through the MLK era. I watched what he did and I understood what he was doing when he was doing it. There is nothing you can say, there is nothing that King said or did that discredits the “content” quote.
If you ignore the fact that it came from King and you assess the quote in isolation on its own merits, I think you will agree that it is a great comment. As a final comment, I will only add what so many others on FR have acknowledged over the years - even a broken clock is right twice a day. The quote, IMO, is one of those times.