Read on Twitter
Some of the biggest whoppers I've ever been told are about Martin Luther King Jr. and came straight from the american education system.
Based on what I was taught about Dr. King, he never disrupted, never spoke out of turn, never did anything inconvenient to anyone, especially white people. Yet somehow he also led a revolution and became one of the most iconic civil rights figures in the world?
I see the consequences of these lies every time protests like the ones happening now come up. White people (yes, exclusively white) say, "Oh MLK wouldn't want/do/support this!"
Your whitewashed version of him wouldn't. The real MLK certainly would.
Your whitewashed version of him wouldn't. The real MLK certainly would.
I had to go through a process of unlearning things about the version of MLK that had been filtered through layer upon layer of white sensibilities until he became something he wasn't, something white people were comfortable with. It makes me sick to think about now.
White people made him polite and convenient. When I started reading Dr. King's words for myself, it made me realize I had to reexamine everything I'd learned about the civil rights movement in our country and how change really came about.
From his letter from a Birmingham Jail, we see him clearly state that freedoms must be demanded.
We see how he viewed demonstrations like the ones happening across our country now.
We see his thoughts on white people who prefer order over justice.
I recommend reading this letter from start to finish. I know I've been meditating on it often for the past few weeks.
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
And don't get me started on the lies we learned about Malcolm X. Or should I say, didn't learn. He was always painted as an extremist who was too provocative for our little ears.
The point:
Allow your priors to be challenged, people. Read for yourself. Listen to black voices. Don't be afraid to learn you've been wrong.
Allow your priors to be challenged, people. Read for yourself. Listen to black voices. Don't be afraid to learn you've been wrong.
