Ian WhiteThe Reason For MLK Day
January 17th 2011 19:15
Category: No Category
I'm reserved when it comes to celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Don't get me wrong, I respect the man and the wonderful things he did in the name of human rights. He's embraced the world over and got his own holiday; which is precisely why he's not even in my top 5 for important African Americans. He's too mainstream and always has been because of the simple fact that he was safe. Dr. King was a safe revolutionary. Heck he wasn't even a revolutionary. He was just a Christian that actually read the good parts of the bible and followed them. He personified putting others over himself and turning the other cheek. And boy did he turns those cheeks when the riot geared cops and their dogs were on the attack.
This however did nothing to the white supremacist regime. They were more than happy have this black man with the smooth voice wax poetic about his dreams and how we should all be friends and treat each other kindly. King was allowed to organize his peaceful rallies and peaceful marches and it was okay. Everything fell on deaf ears of course because he was preaching Christianity to those that only use the religion for control of the population. He didn't tick anybody off until he stepped out of line and started talking about Vietnam. Then they had to kill him.
Still, it was nothing to give him his own holiday. It soothed white guilt and gave black people and citizens of all creeds a blueprint of how to behave when confronted with tyranny and injustice: Take it and pray for God to deliver a solution. Pretty speeches and clever signs, but never get angry and NEVER threaten retaliation. It's not like studying Dr. King's works will reveal anything damaging. He's just a peaceful guy who praised white Jesus. Nothing to fear there. Malcolm X on the other hand is another matter entirely. Guys like him and Huey Newton and Marcus Garvey kept it a bit too real. Their truths struck a nerve, their movements threatened fundamental shifts the world over. That's why Malcolm X was demonized up until his assassination. He challenged the powers that be, he saw the grand plan and dared to reveal it. You couldn't discredit a kind Christian, but you could do it to an angry Muslim. You don't get a holiday for rocking the boat. But if it ever does happen, then you'll know that we're heading in the right direction. Until then, I celebrate MLK day like any other day, minus the brief nod of recognition and the obligatory happy x day broadcast via social network.
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Comment by Anonymous
What he was also preaching (Malcolm X) was FOR segregation, ex: when he said in his speech that when it came to this issue, "It's ok, we don't want to be around that pale thing anyway."
I am very thankful that he changed his attitude after his visit to Mecca where he said his eyes were opened to the fact that there are good and bad people of ALL colors. Too bad people can't learn from THAT example today. (Also unfortunate that the Nation of Islam had him murdered. Can't blame that on white people.) He was killed because he spoke out against the leader (whose name slips my mind) and how he had children with several of his "secretaries." Some of which were only 13 and 14 years old.