The Martin Luther King Thread

It was the response of his quickest instincts.

All I can say is that it takes enormous mental discipline over a long time to develop an "instinct" like that.

Psychiatric nursing 101 is all it takes.

i wrote about US empire’s most reliable ideological ally, The Washington Post editorial board, publishing the most saccharin and ahistorical Martin Luther King tributes in recent memory—which is saying a lot, given the crowded field. https://t.co/hEq6Obpash

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) January 17, 2018

thanks for those articles, tarfumes and kingfish

Halberstam on MLK Jr. in August 1967 (Harper’s): “Possible nationalization of certain industries, a guaranteed annual income…" pic.twitter.com/u6LccDojHq

— noah kulwin (@nkulw) January 25, 2018

Given Branch's broad scope beyond the life of King specifically, I was jarred by America in the King Years ending very abruptly with King's assassination. Thankfully, I managed almost by accident to track down A Nation on Fire by Clay Risen, which is focused entirely upon national reaction in the week following the assassination and details many of the ways in which white America's reaction to the riots led us to where we are today. Highly recommended.

hadn't seen any discussion of this yet:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/arts/king-fbi-tapes-david-garrow.html

i haven't read any of garrow's books and he seems to be fairly well-regarded, but i read his piece and thought the evidence for the accusation that's making headlines seemed pretty weak

tape archive release in 2027

Remember that right-wing dickshits are forever running this shit under people's noses for, like, being generally peace-loving and nonviolent and supporting equality and shit. As if it's going to convince you to start beating people up and hating people who are different from you.

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/06/historical-hackery-and-the-legacy-of-martin-luther-king

this isn't really about martin luther king jr. himself but the holiday. every time the holiday comes around, in my conservative (racist) western state, at my largely conservative (racist) workplaces, staffed largely by white people, there is always this awkward (racist) tendency to tip-toe around it or, like, not acknowledge the reason for the holiday / pretend it doesn't exist. today in a staff meeting my supervisor said, pretty much verbatim, "i absolutely love martin luther king jr., he is one of my biggest heroes and i could talk about him for a long time." it was SO CRINGE. these people have tons of sanctimonious boilerplate around the fascist holidays, why is it so hard to celebrate someone who stood for equality? obviously i know the answer but, god, if i were a supervisor i would rehearse something ffs.

I don’t know, but if it’s insincere I wouldn’t want to hear any mealy mouth boilerplate about how he stood for peace and love and colorblindness.

yeah, I'm looking forward to the annual bullshit CEO email about how "most importantly, he stood for peace" at which point I destroy my work laptop

course, this is the same CEO that said during the riot "while I know you will continue to delivery high quality work to your clients, make sure to take a few minutes off if you need it" while the shit aws still ongoing

ughhhh

yes, i agree re: the less preachy bs from management about a holiday the better.

I can't recommend Taylor Branch's biography of King highly enough. It restores to view all the deep and daily complexities of the problems faced by the civil rights movement, so it is possible to understand King's place in it. The bland bromides that get repeated every January have reduced that vast tumultuous history to the size of a pea.

Seconded. All three volumes are amazing and eye-opening. My one and only criticism is that, for a biography which is in a way about the entire civil rights movement as it is about King himself, it's very frustrating that the third volume ends abruptly with his assassination without going into any of the immediate fallout (about which I would highly recommend Clay Risen's A Nation on Fire, which is entirely focused on the reactions to the assassination in the days and weeks and months following).

And of course I posted pretty much exactly that two years ago upthread. Bears repeating, though.

Thirded, though I admit my attention wandered during the lengthy sections regarding the internal schisms within the Nation of Islam, though I understand it was necessary background to the Malcom X chapters in the second volume.

And of course I posted pretty much exactly that two years ago upthread. Bears repeating, though.

Kinda blows my mind that he would only be in his 90s now, I don’t know why.

Great revive

I heard today that he hid his cigarette smoking from his children

it was just nice to hear something simple and human about a figure that's almost become godlike here in the U.S.

relatable too

A few years ago we went and did kind of the MLK self-guided tour in Atlanta — the neighborhood where he grew up, his church, and of course his and Coretta’s tomb. It was edifying, helped make him more real, provided context.

that sounds v cool

The whole area is a declared national historical park, and the National Park Service has done a good job with informational kiosks etc.

https://www.nps.gov/malu/index.htm

If you’re in/near Memphis, the National Civil Rights Museum (with tour) is highly recommended.

I went last spring when I was in the city for a wedding.

Yes, that’s also excellent. I haven’t been in years, I’m sure they’ve changed some things, need to go back.