Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did (short, excellent article)

[ZombieHorde]

by HamdenRice

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/29/1011562/-Most-of-you-have-no-idea-what-Martin-Luther-King-actually-did

~snip~

What most people who reference Dr. King seem not to know is how Dr. King actually changed the subjective experience of life in the United States for African Americans. And yeah, I said for African Americans, not for Americans, because his main impact was his effect on the lives of African Americans, not on Americans in general. His main impact was not to make white people nicer or fairer. That's why some of us who are African Americans get a bit possessive about his legacy. Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy, despite what our civil religion tells us, is not color blind.

~snip~

I was kind of sarcastic and asked something like, so what did Martin Luther King accomplish other than giving his "I have a dream speech."

Before I tell you what my father told me, I want to digress. Because at this point in our amnesiac national existence, my question pretty much reflects the national civic religion view of what Dr. King accomplished. He gave this great speech. Or some people say, "he marched." I was so angry at Mrs. Clinton during the primaries when she said that Dr. King marched, but it was LBJ who delivered the Civil Rights Act.

At this point, I would like to remind everyone exactly what Martin Luther King did, and it wasn't that he "marched" or gave a great speech.

My father told me with a sort of cold fury, "Dr. King ended the terror of living in the south."

~snip~

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/29/1011562/-Most-of-you-have-no-idea-what-Martin-Luther-King-actually-did

[daleanime]

1. K&R....

[cbayer]

2. Excellent, really excellent.

[prairierose]

3. If I could recommend this more than once...

I would. This is a very important idea.

[PeteSelman]

4. Well, I feel like a complete asshole now.

For often saying that MLK's dream has not yet been achieved. From this perspective, a perspective I would have never in a million years so starkly realized, it certainly has.

It makes me terribly sad that people were treated like that by people that look like me, for merely not looking like me. It's so barbaric and mindless and horrible and tragic.

I am not a person that is easily moved. This really moved me.

[ZombieHorde]

5. I had a similar reaction. nt

[Number23]

6. "Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy, despite what our civil religion tells us, is not color blind."

Shout it loud and long.

"Dr. King ended the terror of living in the south." and his legacy is NOT color-blind.

This is from a few years ago but considering how much white washing still goes into Dr. King's legacy, it is more apt than ever.

K&R

[ZombieHorde]

8. I posted this old article because I learned from it.

No one thing in it was new to me, but the way the article is worded, the simplicity of it, makes history a little more clear for me. The article has impact.

[steve2470]

7. excellent thread k&r nt