Want to quote MLK? Then capture the authentic King, not the whitewashed version.
MLK’s messages were beautifully simple — “I have a dream” — but not always. Politicians should represent MLK as he was — including the views that made him unpopular before his death.
As another MLK Day arrives, politicians across the spectrum will post pictures with quotes by Martin Luther King Jr., using them as a veil to conceal all the ways their policies don’t align with his philosophies.
Instead of, like King, advocating for voting rights, economic and environmental justice, and criminal justice, today’s legislators have contributed to the erosion of voting rights, implemented inhumane immigration policies, and funded conflicts like the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
So when I see them quoting MLK, I can only think of one word: hypocrites.
If politicians or any individuals must quote MLK, they should capture the authentic King, not the whitewashed version you see in snippets of quotes about light driving out darkness, or the arc of the moral universe. They should represent MLK as he was — including the views that made him deeply unpopular before his death. A 1966 Gallup poll showed Americans were twice as likely to have a negative view (66%) of him as a positive one (33%), likely the result of his steadfast opposition to the Vietnam War, and his push for civil rights.
MLK’s message was sometimes beautifully simple — “I have a dream” — but not always. Take, for instance, this quote attributed to King in Harry Belafonte’s memoir, which King said after a party at Belafonte’s apartment held one week before King was assassinated:
“The trouble is that we lived in a failed system. Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we’re going to have to change the system.”
You won’t see this posted on many politicians’ social media feeds on MLK day. But King is absolutely right.
Capitalism exploits labor, and structural racism is its essential feature. In a 2021 book, Andrew J. Douglas and Jared A. Loggins argued that King was a socialist, and believed, as he once said, that “something is wrong with capitalism.”
“The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s often vocal sanction of things as they are. But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. I meet young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright disgust.” — from “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Can you imagine any of today’s politicians — especially those courting the white evangelical voting bloc — quoting from this passage? And yet, again, King was speaking the truth. Rather than stand on the teachings of Jesus Christ, too often, the church — then as now — fails to advocate for justice, or protect the poor and oppressed. And, as he predicted, young people are moving away from religion more than ever before. The church today has reminded us that Frederick Douglass is a truth-teller: there is a difference between the Christianity of Jesus and that of the United States. MLK knew it, too.
“We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” — from “Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence” speech
As markets utilize technology to strengthen profit margins and support political agendas, the people of the world cry out for food to eat, water to drink, homes to keep them warm, and freedom from state oppression. If the white power structure fails to recognize that, then our nation will never live out the true meaning of her creed — the belief that all are created equal is legitimate only when our work matches those words.
I’d love to see politicians rehearse some of these quotes daily, not just once a year. MLK’s words are not political cover, but rather a political calling for the United States to be what it aspires to be on paper.
Rann Miller is an educator and freelance writer based in South Jersey. His Urban Education Mixtape blog supports urban educators and parents of children attending urban schools. Miller is also the author of “Resistance Stories from Black History for Kids,” to be reissued in 2024. @RealRannMiller