Some of the biggest whoppers I& #39;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& #39;t want/do/support this!"
Your whitewashed version of him wouldn& #39;t. The real MLK certainly would.
Your whitewashed version of him wouldn& #39;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& #39;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& #39;s words for myself, it made me realize I had to reexamine everything I& #39;d learned about the civil rights movement in our country and how change really came about.
I recommend reading this letter from start to finish. I know I& #39;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_...
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html">https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_...