I really wish Ferguson apologists - and basically white people in general - would stop quoting Martin Luther King to prove how racist they arent, and/or to show how much he would disapprove of whatever it is they disapprove of. Because MLK didnt exist in a non-violent vacuum. The Civil Rights Movement was a MOVEMENT. There were many facets, and they all worked TOGETHER. King is trotted out by white folk all the time as the example of How A Good Black Man ought to behave, which basically means shutting up and taking it. Oh, sure. You can protest, so long as its quiet and respectful and has no gawl durn teeth behind it whatsoever. Because that would accomplish what, exactly? No, sometimes peace can only come from the threat of violence. Which is perfectly ok with white conservative when someone like Reagan quotes George Washingtons To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace, line. But when black people take a stand? Its just riots. And thugs. And opportunists. And looters. And everything other than A Bunch Of Pissed Off People Who Are Mad As Hell And Theyre Not Gonna Take It Any More. So quote King, if you must. But know that when you do, youre only showing people your ignorant enjoyment of your own white privilege. Because, sure. Your idea of a protest might be stapling a few tea bags to your hat and sipping Chick-Fil-A iced tea outside of a Hobby Lobby, but thats only because you can. Because the extent of your suffering doesnt go far past your own ideology. Because youre not watching 1 in 3 of your sons be thrown in jail. Because youre not seeing your kids being stopped and frisked for no reason other than the color of their skin. Because you dont have to worry that the your son is more likely to be killed than go to college. Because you dont need to be concerned with the clear statistics that show unquestionable racial bias in all areas of law enforcement. No, you dont have to worry about any of that, because you werent born into that world. You werent born poor and black, at the bottom of an abyssal plain in a system that does everything it can to keep you there by making it as hard as possible to claw your way out of. And you dont have to worry about white people constantly telling you how you should behave just like they do, when they have everything youve never known. So yeah, King was non-violent. Why? Because he could afford to be, because there were other parts of the Civil Rights Movement that werent. Or, as Harlan says here at the end of his reflection on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights march he was a part of in Alabama, Martin Luther King was the gloved hand to Malcolm Xs mailed fist. And it was the threat of the fist that let the glove do the work. So condemn the rioters and looters all you want, just leave King out of it. Just be aware that, while some of them are, in fact, opportunists and thugs and everything else you accuse them of being, not all of them are. Not all. Because sometimes, you just have go outside and break something to keep from burning down the world.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 05:13:03 +0000
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