MLK Day: Opportunity for Remembrance or Performance?

We know several BIPOC who refuse to go on main stream media on MLK day.

Why?

Because of how sickening and infuriating it can be to see oppressors, racists, big businesses and politicians using a day of remembrance as an opportunity to sell things or make themselves seem aligned with the very ideals Dr. King died for- when their actions and intentions every other day of the year scream that they are part of the very things King fought against.

One post even tried to claim King would support banning CRT because he was interested in “character” and not “color.”

That same quote used over and over as a rallying cry to sustain white supremacy and oppression.

They refuse to look deeper at his legacy, his passion, his sacrifice:

“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn. The reality of substantial investment to assist Negroes into the twentieth century, adjusting to Negro neighbors and genuine school integration, is still a nightmare for all too many white Americans…

These are the deepest causes for contemporary abrasions between the races. Loose and easy language about equality, resonant resolutions about brotherhood fall pleasantly on the ear, but for the Negro there is a credibility gap he cannot overlook. He remembers that with each modest advance the white population promptly raises the argument that the Negro has come far enough. Each step forward accents an ever-present tendency to backlash.”

— Where Do We Go From Here: 1967

As always, a “white wash” is applied as a means of keeping things at their status quo.

Abbott tried his hand today to speak of Dr. King!

Even as King’s own living children declared their father would be horrified by the action in Texas and other states.

How truth is twisted. How words are mis-translated, how manipulation and greed thwart progress at every turn.

Fortunately, there are still many speaking his real words and working for his true dreams.

Thank you, Dr. King, today and always.