Is It Better Late Than On Time To Write About King

Last week, there were understandably numerous articles about Martin Luther King Jr. That was because April 4th was the 50th anniversary of his assassination. And, with the violence in the world and at home along with the Trump Presidency, if the world seems to be spinning out of control, it even felt more that way back then. For back then, we had the real Cold War along with the Vietnam War, we were in the last year of the Civil Rights Movement, we had the Hippies vs the establishment, the feminist movement had started, and we had major riots in our cities. And we witnessed the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy. The song title Eve Of Destruction seemed to be an apt description of the times.

Why am I writing about Martin Luther King Jr. now when the anniversary of his death was last week. It is because I am accidentally on purpose. I say accidentally on purpose because on one hand, because of busyness I was not aware of the anniversary of King's assassination. On the other hand, had I been aware, I might delayed writing about it anyway because I wonder if it matters. For whenever many of us pay homage to a recognized hero, we do so selectively. By selectively I mean that we filter out the deeds done and the messages spoken by a given hero so that we can publicly show appreciation for a given hero in ways that, in the end, are self-affirming. Thus, celebrating a hero often becomes more of an exercise in praising ourselves. And this is especially true with a person like Martin Luther King Jr. whose words, when not filtered, convict all of us as being guilty.

Consider King's speech against the Vietnam War exactly 1 year before his assassination (click here for that speech). King's public approval downfall began when he spoke out against the Vietnam War. And when tested his stance against the War with a number of people, they objected. And King's response was the following:

Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Peace and civil rights don't mix, they say. Aren't you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.
 

Note how King stated that to question why he opposed the war was to not really know what he was about. I suppose King would have received similar responses had he lived to see and object to the Persian Gulf Wars and our protracted war in Afghanistan, as well as our military use of drones in assassinating people in parts of Africa and Asia. After all, in the eyes of many, as well as what seems to be the view of the NFL, not supporting the presence of our troops and their use of weapons in some nations would be equated with not supporting the troops or being patriotic. And for many Americans, not being patriotic is the unforgivable sin.

King went on to say that with the war-driven expansion of the military budget came cuts in social programs which deeply hurt the war against povery. Isn't that even more the case now as we have a different form of Capitalism than we had in King's day. For in his day, the maximize profit ethic was not as pervasive as it is today. What we see today includes many more with wealth seeking to cut their social responsibility ties with the vulnerable than than existsed when King was near the end of his life. In addition, the same group of those with wealth is now seeking to be excused from any responsibility to not harm the earth while they seek to forever expand their fortunes. If King was not even a fan of the more restrained form of Capitalism in his day, imagine his indignation at today's Neoliberalism.

For many of us, we restrict King to speaking against racism in a very narrow sense. And yet, King saw the interconnections between a few somewhat popular beliefs and practices with racism. For note what he said in a speech that was given in August of 1967 (click here for the source):

I am convinced that this new life will not emerge until our nation undergoes a radical revolution of values. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people the giant triplets of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

Note how in calling them triplets, King is describing how racism, economic exploitation, and militarism are linked together. Then note what King identifies the driving force for these beliefs and practice to be: it's society putting a higher value on gadgets, profits, and property rights than on people. Here we should note that at this point, many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians who have canonized Capitalism to sainthood with its emphasis on the individual, the  protection of property rights and the glorious seeking of profits would have to part company with King. But perhaps so would many of us who are enslaved by our gadgets that both entertain us and connect us not just to world outside of our own circle, but to those live in it. Note how King partially described Capitalism back then:

Again we have diluted ourselves into believing the myth that Capitalism grew and prospered out of the protestant ethic of hard word and sacrifice, the fact is that Capitalism was build on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor both black and white, both here and abroad.

In celebrating King's opposition against racism, a task which all sane people should enthusiastically support, we forget that King opposed the Vietnam War as well as the distribution of wealth that occurred through the Capitalism of his day. BTW, imagine what King would say to the decades long growth of wealth disparity which we still witness. Rather than looking at the causes of racism, many of which we might be complicit in, we filter King's words so that we can continue in our own racism. We filter out those words so that we can fully agree with King in judging people by the content of their character rather than color of their skin. But then we support systems that greatly impair the character development of many and who are subject to a racist enforcement of the law.

Martin Luther King Jr. is not special in how the general public selectively celebrates him so as to honor itself more than him. Others fall into that group as well. So why celebrate King's life when many of us are going to do so with the purpose of applauding ourselves? Perhaps, when done right, we can use the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr., as well as others, to speak prophetically, as King would have done, to everyone around in order to give them a chance to change.