Weaponizing MLK’s words to undermine the efforts he championed
Politicians, media companies, and independent journalists everywhere take advantage of the good feeling that can be generated by associating oneself with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Martin Luther King Day. Over time this has led to some strange bedfellows.
In 2021, now Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy tried to argue that Critical Race Theory went against everything Martin Luther King Jr. taught.
To be fair, McCarthy wasn’t talking about the academic tradition birthed by the civil rights era which notes pervasive systemic racism has shaped all of our social institutions. He was using the argument that shaming white people was unfair, made famous by Christopher F. Rufo – the ultra right-wing culture warrior who you might remember for the slides he shared from an anti-bias training which subsequently went viral.
But neither McCarthy nor Rufo were the first. Other’s have misused Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech:
Yet what they and other’s who choose to “not see color” misunderstand about this passage was its aspirational nature. No matter how much we insist we treat each other the same regardless of race, the research shows otherwise.
Black Americans are twice as likely to be unemployed, earn nearly 25% less when they are employed, and are also more likely to be underemployed relative to their skill level. Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to be arrested, convicted, and receive lengthy prison sentences. In 2019, the net worth of the average American white household was more than 6 times that of the average black household.
To reach a point where King’s dream may be realized, we have a long way to go. Recognizing this fact may be uncomfortable to some as evidenced by the 42 states have taken steps to restrict CRT from being discussed in school. But it’s necessary to honor King’s dream.
Martin Luther King Jr. also said,
And
We need to be clear that choosing to disregard color also disregards the suffering, oppression, and injustice so many have faced (and continue to face), because of how their skin color is perceived. Blindness is not a solution to a legacy of racial discrimination and violence – it’s why racism and its effects have left such a lingering impact on our society.
So this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I humbly urge you to see color, to see the devastation wrought from hundreds of years of oppression, and the castes our society has created. See color, so that one day we might actually not.