Among the most painful bits of Dr. King’s legacy is how so much of it’s reduced to “I Have a Dream.” It’s true that it’s a landmark speech, powerful and moving…
…and always heard out of context of the other, more direct speeches that graced the March on Washington (a March organized by an openly Gay Man, no less – go look up the badass Bayard Rustin, please and thank you!). As if the marchers just wanted to spend all day on their feet, listening to platitudes and winsome ideas!
I’m not going to dive into that context, I assume your Google button ain’t broke. :) What I will do, is talk about a couple of other works by Dr. King, works that ground him in the realities he fought to overcome, and that echo into these times.
The text for the afternoon will be taken from two works from near Dr. King’s passing:
- “The Drum Major Instinct,” (hereafter DRUM), which you can listen to here, and read here, and
- “A New Sense of Direction,” (hereafter SENSE), which you can read here.
I post all this to encourage you to read/listen to the above in full. To underline that Dr. King was far richer a thinker and even rabble-rouser than gets noticed — that the Hoover FBI feared him for damned good reasons. If you chose to read the above docs, and skip the rest of this? HELL YA!
But for those who want more? Follow…
See, Dr. King did not buy into a color-blind society. That wasn’t the context he gave his “Dream” speech under. The context, the fuller context of his work and life’s mission, is made plain by this remarkable passage in DRUM:
[…]when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, “Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. [laughter] You’re just as poor as Negroes.”And I said, “You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. (Yes) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white.
And you’re so poor you can’t send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march.”
Now that’s a fact. That the poor white has been put into this position, where through blindness and prejudice, (Make it plain) he is forced to support his oppressors. And the only thing he has going for him is the false feeling that he’s superior because his skin is white—and can’t hardly eat and make his ends meet week in and week out.
And there’s so much more.
One of the positive parts of Dr. King’s approach was in seeing a bigger picture, was in tying together all manner of injustice into a massive framework, what we today would call an attempt at intersectionality. It’s far from perfect; we know he was far too casual about martial relations to see the fullness of sexism. And although he was surprisingly cool with Rustin, he also failed to be vocal at all about what we’d today call LBGTQIA+ issues.
Yet there was a seed of power in his approach to directing white people to look inside themselves, in his challenge to their (and society’s) assumption of inherent goodness. And as critical as he was towards poor whites, that sympathy evaporates completely when you consider his words towards what we, today, might see as Privileged White people. From SENSE:
[…]policy-makers of the white society have caused the darkness. It was they who created the frustrating slums. They perpetuate unemployment and poverty and oppression. Perhaps it is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes, but these are essentially derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.
King is far more aggressive – even angry — about calling out white society than he’s usually portrayed as. Reading his dissections of that systemic failure, and ideas on overcoming it, are bracing to this day…sadly.
See, King’s quick to lay the political blame on what I contend are still surpassing the Black and Brown voice in politics:
Negroes became outraged by blatant inequality. Their ultimate goal was total, unqualified freedom. The majority of the white progressives were outraged by the brutality displayed. Their goal was improvement or limited progression.
Obtaining the right to use public facilities, register and vote, token educational advancement, brought to the Negro a sense of achievement; he felt the momentum. But it brought to the whites a sense of completion. When Negroes assertively moved on to ascend the second rung of the ladder, a firm resistance from the white community became manifest.[….] Everyone underestimated the amount of rage Negroes were suppressing and the amount of bigotry the white majority was disguising.
(Not everyone. Ask Malcolm X, or Rev. Shuttlesworth, and you’d get a different answer on this, to name two people right off.)
But Dr. King is hella on the right track. And he knows it. And we’re still talking about the impact white progressives have on the Black and Brown vote, to this very day.
And because he’s on the right track, I can say this: Dr. King is clear that some changes can’t be made by speaking too kindly. That some painful truths have to come to the fore.
That’s what Black Lives Matter did. That’s what the 1619 Project did. That’s (part of) why Critical Race Theory – an academic theory mostly for lawyers – had to be scapegoated.
Dr. King saw that the closer we get to reality, the harsher the blow back. The more we talk about the systemic issues in this country, the more the arc of justice pushes the many folx who’ve suffered under those issues into the light and air we all deserve…and the more the old guard will press and preen and pervert and backstab to maintain power.
And SENSE touches on what kind of people have, and can, overcome those barriers:
[…]there are millions who have risen morally above prevailing prejudices. They are willing to share power and to accept structural alterations of society, even at the cost of traditional privilege.[…]Their support serves not only to enhance our power, but their break from the attitudes of the larger society splits and weakens our opposition.
It’s…not an easy calling, that Higher Calling, y’all. If you say it is, if you think I overstate things, then I ask you to show your work.
To conclude: I submit there are some things we can all learn from studying even a bit of Dr. King. And I hope the above serves as a starter, to that on your part, today.
MisterDancer
Quick follow-up: Like Dr. King, I encourage y’all to take a step back from bashing on white people who carry around racial prejudge like a badge of honor. That is, indeed, the easy path to expressing allyship, to be honest and direct.
Much like climate change, we all have parts to play. You have to decide what level of pain — oft-personal — you’re willing to endure, for another inch towards social justice for many.
I cannot promise that’s what Dr. King would say to you, today, er he were here. Yet I think it’s worthy of contemplation.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you for commemorating, and linking to, some of MLK’s less famous work. May we all help bring about that glorious day.
HinTN
@MisterDancer: Amen to this and to the post itself.
MMM
Excellent post!
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
Thanks for the post, and a very belated congratulations on being named a front pager. This was a wise choice indeed.
Another Scott
Thanks for this, and especially the Bayard Rustin link. Too many people think that Martin and Malcom and Rosa and a handful of others made everything better in 1965 by simple force of their will. There were decades and decades of work that went into those successes, by many many people.
The work is never finished.
Part of my childhood was in Cobb County, GA in the 1960s. I was vaguely aware of Atlanta politics, but even then I was struck by how the few elected African Americans in the legislature, like Julian Bond, had to be so much better than any white Clayton Beauregard Jefferson III (or IV) who could win just based on his grandpappy’s name. And who were relentlessly attacked by their colleagues when they were trying to do their jobs. And how the arguments that we’re hearing now go back to then – “Hey, there are elected Blacks, the system is fair and isn’t racist! Quit trying to change the system to gain unfair advantage over us!!1”
Grrr…
There’s so much more that needs to be done.
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Scott.
Citizen Alan
“I have a dream that someday we will all be judged not on the color of our skin but the conduct of our character.”
As far as every Republican in the country is concerned, outside of that sentence, MLK never uttered a single word nor did anything worth mentioning. It’s sort of like how “The poor are always with us” is pretty much the only saying of Jesus Christ that Republicans care about.
lowtechcyclist
Just tossed in $75 to Four Directions Michigan. With the help of BJ Angel #7, that should get us to 20K, if we aren’t there already.
Gvg
Funny, I learned about how poor whites were played against blacks in business school and in history classes about the labor rights movement which preceded the civil rights success. When I think about it, it’s kind of funny how the economics professors were so pro labor and so were the finance and management professors. They thought monopolies were bad capitalism. Multiple classes taught by white males, pointed out working class whites were being manipulated to their own harm but benefiting the owner class. I can’t recall which class examined the weakness of the economic system of slavery, that may have been a history class, but it also exposed how the north could be totally against slavery and yet still be totally racist. Slaves undercut white wages. They were involuntary scabs that prevented better wages. The stupid thing is the white working class doesn’t get the advantages of allying with blacks and immigrants and tries to side with the owners which only benefits their feelings not real world gains. They are suckers.
Business school was supposed to be totally about greed, but I actually found it to be pretty perceptive and thoughtful. Other people must get something else out of it.
Dan B
@Another Scott: Yes to Bayard Rustin who was drummed out of the Civil Rights movement. Rusting went to India to learn what Gandhi did. MLK had armed guards at his home. Rustin persuaded him to utilize nonviolence. There are reports that armed blacks in the south protected the Freedom Marchers. Isn’t the goal to mobilize the wider community? If so nonviolence was successful.
gene108
A speech recorded at a Mississippi, in 1968, church that was not widely publicized. Rev. Dr. King, Jr. lays out topics of white privilege that I hadn’t heard about until the last 5-10 years.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ifh7NKE7lNw
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: Got it! That’s $300 for Michigan.
Of course, the angel doesn’t match until the whole match amount has been met, some are at $19,950 but that is still really darn close to $20k, and closer than we were before your donation! thank you.
WaterGirl
@gene108: “When we’re coming to Washington, we’re coming to get our check.”
MLK scared the shit out of the powers that be, just be telling the truth.
edit: A smart, power, charismatic black man. They couldn’t have that, especially once he started to point out that the poor white men should be fighting for the same thing the black people were fighting for. Of course they had to kill him. What else do white men in power know but the necessity to hang on to their power by all means necessary?
And here we are today.
Brachiator
Gloria Richardson was an unsung civil rights pioneer who died in 2021. She was heavily involved in the movement for a short period of time, but the NPR story on her passing includes a magnificent photo from the 1960s of Richardson casually pushing aside a National Guardsman’s bayonet as she walks past.
Argiope
@WaterGirl: I couldn’t stand it and kicked in the $50 to get us to 20k because it’s a nice round number.
ETA now endlessly refreshing to try to see the thermometer go up :)
gene108
@Gvg:
Business school is a shibboleth for liberals, because they want something to blame for the bad corporate practices Reagan unleashed that continue today. I think law schools, and other types of programs have elevated people to positions to enable bad anti-worker corporate policies.
My experience with business school was mixed, some professors were better than others, but the M&A class I took focused on modern practices like leveraged buyouts, without much commentary on the ethics, that lead to a gutting of the company to transfer wealth to the investors. It was an eye opening class.
WereBear
All they have to guide them is their feelings. They or their parents scorned education, they know the rest of the nation is rightly angry at them, and it’s always easier to let someone else make their decisions.
@Dan B: I have long been fascinated by Bayard Ruston, and always remember him quoted about organizing huge complex things: “I assume no one knows what they’re doing, including me, and act accordingly.”
Another Scott
@Citizen Alan: We should also remember that he wasn’t giving that speech that day, until Mahalia Jackson called out to him – “tell them about the dream, Martin!”
Cheers,
Scott.
Citizen Alan
@Another Scott: I never knew that!
Baud
@WereBear:
That could be a rotating tag here.
Baud
Thanks for the wonderful post, MD.
prostratedragon
@Brachiator:
Re photo: Now that’s what you like to see!
stacib
@MisterDancer: Thank you for my “learn something new every day” moment.
prostratedragon
Near the end of the “Drum Major” speech, Dr. King quotes this song, sung here by Mahalia Jackson:
Old Man Shadow
When the leaders of the system of oppression and injustice silence the prophets, they have to build and adorn their tombs, turn them into lifeless idols to be venerated, but not listened to. No, the priests and leaders of the system will tell you what the prophets REALLY meant, which is always that the current system is perfect and the leaders should be in charge forever.
It is stomach turning and maddening when you know better.
pat
Just sent in $100.
Cermet
Are today’s poor and middleclass whites any different to those classes from 1860 (aside from vastly different numbers/ratio’s) in regards to overall thinking? They enlisted in droves and did the dying for the rich/wealthy classes of the South. The very people most harmed by slavery did the fighting and dying to save it. Even today, the same white poor and middle class people’s fight to save the rich/wealthy ability to keep sucking all the wealth/money from these very same poor/middle classes – both times these white people were suckered by racism to do all the dirty work harming only themselves.
Another Scott
They’re shameless.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
@Old Man Shadow:
As I’ve heard it put: “They want black faces, not black voices.”
WaterGirl
@Argiope: Thank you! I just saw that the thermometer hit $20,000 and I am thrilled! Another $300 for Michigan.
Cacti
The story of Martin Luther King has been retconned into him being a universally beloved national figure in life.
White America mostly hated his ass for all the uncomfortable truths he told, and he was viewed favorably by about 25% of the public at the time he was murdered.
WaterGirl
@pat: Thank you! I see it in the thermometer. :-)
That’s $450 for Michigan.
We are now halfway through the $1,000 match from BJ Angel #7!
zhena gogolia
@Old Man Shadow: Yeah.
pat
All right already, another $250.
Can’t take it with you, right????
Ohio Mom
The claimed universal admiration for MLK reminds me of all the little redneck towns along the Ohio River which seem to all boast an old house which the residents will proudly tell you was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Putting aside the question of these various houses’ true histories, it never seems to occur to these people that if the Underground Railroad was happening today, they’d be against it and ratting out their neighbor the station keeper.
You just have to look at the Confederate flags everywhere to see that there are a lot of people incapable of experiencing cognitive dissonance, even though they have plenty to conflict them.
pat
There’s a great saying in German.
Das letzte Hemd hat keine Taschen…
The last shirt has no pockets.
WaterGirl
@pat: Wow, thank you so much. That’s $900 to Michigan!
prostratedragon
I see this was mentioned in the morning thread, but it bears repeating:
randy khan
That third quoted passage really strikes home. Removing the overt barriers to an equitable society wasn’t the end of the job, but the end of the beginning, like demolishing a dangerous building, but not having yet designed the new, better building that will replace it. In a lot of ways, the first part is the easy part – no matter how hard it was – and what’s happened in the 50+ years since Dr. King’s death shows how much work was left to do.
Starfish
@Gvg: This is going on until this day. The South is full of right to work states, and unionization efforts fail because all management has to do is to rub some salt into the racial distrust.
UncleEbeneezer
Just got in from a 5 hour drive so I probably won’t be able to absorb it until tomorrow. But I look forward to listening to these. Great post. My initial thought today was “boy if people are freaked out by CRT, just wait until they hear about MLK’s views/perspective of systemic racism in America!”
Starfish
I had never read the entire “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” until today. It is still timely and relevant.
Looking at this in the context of the pandemic and the recent protests is interesting.
The Black church was very important to the civil rights movement as were parts of the Catholic church. Some people want to toss out all church because of their relationship to the church, but here is a place where some church was getting it right.
Today, I have also read the “What’s Your Blueprint?” speech that he gave at a middle school. It is easier for some people to process because it is a graduation speech.
Regulon
@pat:
Another also comes to mind:
“Ich kann gar nicht soviel fressen, wie ich kotzen möchte.
Max Liebermann January 30, 1933
phdesmond
a lot of good links, which i’ve bookmarked. and more from the comments!
thank you.
satby
I was off line all day yesterday but looked forward to reading this post and comments. Appreciate all the links, some of which I had never seen before.