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
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 17 January 2018 20:14 (six years ago) link
thanks for those articles, tarfumes and kingfish
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 18 January 2018 11:28 (six years ago) link
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
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 January 2018 12:27 (six years ago) link
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.
― Love Theme From Oh God! You Devil (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 14:54 (six years ago) link
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
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 20:09 (four years ago) link
tape archive release in 2027
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 20:11 (four years ago) link
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.
― Equal Time for Dingelschnitzen (I M Losted), Friday, 7 June 2019 03:40 (four years ago) link
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/06/historical-hackery-and-the-legacy-of-martin-luther-king
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 June 2019 11:08 (four years ago) link
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.
― map, Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:29 (three years ago) link
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.
― Boring United Methodist Church (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:42 (three years ago) link
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
― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:44 (three years ago) link
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
― map, Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:45 (three years ago) link
yes, i agree re: the less preachy bs from management about a holiday the better.
― map, Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:46 (three years ago) link
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.
― Respectfully Yours, (Aimless), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:47 (three years ago) link
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).
― Meat Chew All the Way (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:53 (three years ago) link
And of course I posted pretty much exactly that two years ago upthread. Bears repeating, though.
― Meat Chew All the Way (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:54 (three years ago) link
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.
― blatherskite, Tuesday, 12 January 2021 20:19 (three years ago) link
― Boring United Methodist Church (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 20:30 (three years ago) link
Kinda blows my mind that he would only be in his 90s now, I don’t know why.Great revive
― brimstead, Saturday, 13 January 2024 00:14 (four months ago) link
I heard today that he hid his cigarette smoking from his children
― Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 13 January 2024 00:18 (four months ago) link
it was just nice to hear something simple and human about a figure that's almost become godlike here in the U.S.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 13 January 2024 00:19 (four months ago) link
relatable too
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Saturday, 13 January 2024 00:25 (four months ago) link
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.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 13 January 2024 02:35 (four months ago) link
that sounds v cool
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 13 January 2024 03:06 (four months ago) link
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
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 13 January 2024 15:27 (four months ago) link
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.
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 13 January 2024 16:07 (four months ago) link
Yes, that’s also excellent. I haven’t been in years, I’m sure they’ve changed some things, need to go back.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 13 January 2024 17:05 (four months ago) link