It is nearly impossible to overstate the depressing irony that Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president on the day that this nation will commemorate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
King willingly sacrificed his life for the cause of racial equality and justice; Trump has repeatedly trafficked in the vile language of Adolf Hitler, proudly promoted racist stereotypes, and dined with at least one white nationalist.
Adding insult to injury, this coming Monday will be replete with vapid and disingenuous platitudes about King, blithely escaping the lips of politicians who are dutifully dedicated to dismantling his work.
Their speechwriters will not summon inconvenient quotes from King, such as the following: āThe fact is that there has never been a single, solid, determined commitment on the part of the vast majority of white Americans to genuine equality for (Black Americans).ā
Not to be outdone, others from the right-wing menagerie ā the people who detest DEI ā will similarly praise King, whose advocacy led to the creation of affirmative action. When was the last time such pretenders supported a boycott of a business that engaged in racial discrimination? When was the last time they introduced legislation to protect voting rights? When have they extolled the fact that King called for a guaranteed annual income for poor people of all races?
The answer is clear: Never.
Their hallows ring hollow. Their actions (or, often, their failure to act) speak much more loudly than do their words. I am reminded of the inimitable words of James Baldwin who (borrowing from Ike and Tina Turner) wrote: āI canāt believe what you say because I see what you do.ā
Then there are well-meaning whites who ask, often impatiently, why those of us who fight for racial equality donāt recognize the āprogressā that the U.S. has made. I view these people as the ideological descendants of the genteel, but embarrassingly misguided, clergymen to whom King addressed his unanswerable āLetter from a Birmingham City Jail.ā Their earnestness is exceeded only by their blindness to their privilege.
To be sure, I do recognize that this nation has made racial progress. Chattel slavery was abolished. Most forms of de jure racial discrimination have been struck down.
But, that isnāt enough. Redlining still exists. Race-based salary disparities abide. Police brutality is still common. SCOTUSā affirmative action decision is being used as a crowbar to pry away the progress that we have made.
Of course, the issue is not whether Black people are better off today than we were decades ago; the issue is where Black folks are socioeconomically today relative to where white people are today. As long as the focus is on Blacks not being in precisely the same deplorable conditions that we experienced in decades past, there will not be enough emphasis on closing todayās racial wealth gap.
Further, racism has always intensified following gains that Blacks have made, whether it was the creation of the KKK following Reconstruction or domestic terrorism increasing after the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s.
As King said, āThe white backlash of today is rooted in the same problem that has characterized America ever since the Black man landed in chains on the shores of this nation.”
In some ways, I am relieved that King did not live into his seventies or eighties. Had that been the case, he would have had to endure decades of the abuse that mercilessly attacked his mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health.
Among the milder indignities that he constantly endured was being called a ārace-baiter.ā There are few clearer signs today that someone would have opposed King than by the uttering this phrase.
Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote, āPeople who oppose today what he stood for back then do not get to be the arbiters of his legacy. The real Dr. King cannot be commodified, homogenized, and white-washed, and whatever side you stand on TODAY is the side you would have been back then.ā
America has made its bed; now we must lie in it.
Thank you, one and all for contributing to this article, and beyond.
There is a broader sense of “freeing” the public/reader… for All Right Reasons.
“For it shall not be found among elected official alone, past or present to usher the much needed change for the societal transforming spirit.
We are in need of that which far exceeds any political ideology…
Al-Islam holds the fabric of optimism, economic, political and societal change we all need toward betterment.
Finally, if Our Wise Elders were indeed correct when stating, ” it takes the entire village to raise a child/nation…”
My question is: What Happens Should The Village Fail”
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