Today is Martin Luther King day here in the United States. In remembering Dr. King’s legacy, alas, his story is sometimes reduced to a few simplistic soundbites, and we forget how much of a struggle his famous struggle really was.
The one thing no one seems to want to remember is how much opposition there was to King and his message, and how ugly and violent and hateful this opposition was.
King and his family faced real threats and real harassment on a daily basis. He was subject to real violence, yet continued to preach a message of nonviolence.
As a reminder of the courage it took to be Martin Luther King, here’s an account of a march he led in Chicago in 1966, taken from Rick Perlstein’s book Nixonland. (Content warning: Racist language, violence.)
August 5. Six hundred open-housing activists, ten thousand counterdemonstrators. Some wore Nazi helmets. Others waved Confederate battle flags, carried George Wallace banners, swastika placards that helpfully explained THE SYMBOL OF WHITE POWER.
Martin Luther King, Mahalia Jackson by his side, led his legions forth: “We are bound for the promised land!”
“Kill those niggers!”
“We want Martin Luther Coon!”
Police trying to keep the two sides apart were screamed at: “Nigger-loving cops!” “God, I hate niggers and nigger-lovers,” a reporter overheard an old lady say.
Martin Luther King walked past.
“Kill him! Kill him!”
“Roses are red, violets are black, King would look good with a knife in his back.”
Instead he got a baseball-size rock above his ear. He slumped to the ground—the Gandhian moment of truth. … King got up and kept on marching. We shall overcome.
The racist mob continued to pelt the demonstrators with rocks and bottles, many of them aimed at King. Some 30 others were injured.
Why did King put himself at such risk? “I have to do this–to expose myself–to bring this hate into the open,” he later explained.
He also, as a result of his activism in Chicago, got local real estate agents to agree to abide by the city’s fair housing ordinance. Not a dramatic concession, but a meaningful one, and one that illustrated the kind of everyday discrimination that blacks faced in America.
This is what a real civil rights hero looks like.
EDIT: Here’s some footage of one of King’s marches in Chicago, and a Chicago Tribune video about King’s Chicago activism. The footage here is supposedly of King’s march in Gage Park; the march described above took place in Marquette Park, where he got an even more hostile reception.
Fuck off and go shake your pompoms over at AVfM.
Reblogged this on D.E. Cantor.
Only so many people have the kind of courage and steadfastness MLK had .Our world here is definitely a much better place however still imperfect from his teachings and his example.And it cost him his life. Which I think he knew it would . A man to look up to .
I give my respect today in honor of MLK’s memory .
Didn’t you guys know? Paul Elam is this era’s MLK. So, let’s all give Elam a Federal holiday! /sarcasm
Oh, and Charlotte, please go away. I’m sure you already know that you’re not going to win anyone over.
Thank you David for showing the ugly side of history. It seems to me that a lot of people (especially the media) what to just cover the pretty, thoughtful quotes and buried with him the hatred, violence and hardship that he and his followers endured. I don’t even what to start on what has been done to the work, accomplishments and memories of Malcolm X. But we must always remember the ugly of yesterday to appreciate the beuty of today, even if will still have a long way to go.
Charlotte, Why don’t you go outside and play, hide and go f**k yourself.
Those maps are so striking. It is awesome when something so complex can be visualised like that. I’d love to see the city where I live done like this. I am sure the map would show the truth to be completely different o my experience of it.
Mnemosyne, Rosa Parks will be so proud of them, for starting their movement, stand your ground and “save a comfy chair” from seat stealers femanazi.
in other news: the white nationalist MRA david’s written about once or twice posted some completely incoherent farrell quote on /r/mensrights and topped it off with “happy MLK day!”. using a sockpuppet (because my main is banned on MR) i called him out and boy oh boy did the MRAcists come out of the woodwork.
you can check it out here; http://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1vo1u8/quote_from_warren_farrell_men_are_likely_to_be/ceu94uj
Trying to pick a fight on a post about a civil rights leader so you can impress the boys with what a special snowflake you are? Classy, Charlotte.
I don’t think Malcolm X was condoning violence or aggression. What Malcolm X stood for is self-defense and self-determination, any group of people who are facing terrorism at the hands of oppressors deserve the right to self-defense.
What was happening in that era to people of color was tantamount to genocide, you cannot blame the oppress if they stand up for themselves.
I feel very strongly about all of this. Yesterday (true fact), my sixteen year old son was leaving the house to go visit a friend. He was wearing dark grey sweats and a dark grey hoodie. I advised him to put the hood back. He was going to walk through a neighborhood here in Oakland, on a bright sunny Sunday afternoon, the day before King Day. All I could think was “he’s a teenage Black boy, with dreads down past his shoulders, in a hoodie. Please, goddess, let him not be shot.” I so wish that I did not have to think things like that when he leaves the house. But I DO. I only hope that his children do not have to do so.
That said, there has been progress. His friend? We went to his bar mitzvah. My son has no idea that he’s supposed to fear or hate his friend because he’s a Jew, his friend has no idea that he’s supposed to look askance because my son has two fathers. As we used to say in Spanish class, poco a poco se va aller. (little by little, we go far)
Not to mention MLK had a wife named Coretta .Who wasn’t sitting at home raising the kids and having dinner ready (at least not her only role) washing his clothes while the big strong man fought the fight on his own .
Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. King often participated in many of her husband’s exploits and goals during the battle for African-American equality. King met the future civil rights leader while in college and the two quickly escalated to the center of the movement.
Mrs. King played a prominent role in the years after her husband’s 1968 assassination when she took on the leadership of the struggle for racial equality herself and became active in the Women’s Movement and the LGBT rights movement. King founded the King Center and sought to make his birthday a national holiday. King went through several procedures and was put down many times before in the mid-1980s, she finally succeeded with Ronald Reagan’s signing of the legislation legalizing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. She expanded her views to include opposition to apartheid and tried to establish homosexual rights as being part of her husband’s wishes.
King became friends with many politicians before and after her husband’s death, most notably John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy’s phone call to her during the 1960 election was what she liked to believe was behind his victory. In August 2005, King suffered a stroke and was left paralyzed on her right side and unable to speak. Five months later, King died of respiratory failure due to complications from ovarian cancer. King’s funeral was attended by four of five living U.S. Presidents and by over 10 million people. She was temporarily buried on the grounds of the King Center, until she was interred next to her husband.
Coretta received awards both for her and her husband during her lifetime and was awarded posthumously for her charismatic behavior towards human rights. King was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 2009. She was the first African-American to lie in Georgia State Capitol upon her death.[2] King has been referred to as “First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement.”[3]
In fact the ONLY reason MLK’S birthday is a national holiday is because or her.She had to fight and fight hard to get that for him .
Robert ,
Its not much but just so you know that breaks my heart for you . I too only hope that your son does not have to have that fear in him with his children and your grandchildren.
And this is a beautiful message of hope . I love it ,I will remember it .
“I have a dream…TO FUCK THEIR SHIT UP!”
Real hero he is.
dallasapple, I agreed she doesn’t get enough recognition for her role as an activist, she was also a great influence in the civil rights movement.
Hi there HokesOne! =D
hi ally! i’m working my way to delurking from here. reddit can be exhausting.
Robert, It saddens me to know that we still need to tell our sons and brothers not to act or dress certain ways to prevent any harm coming to them. It saddens me that we still need to have the (talk), that it some situation they will still be perceived as a threat base on their skin tone alone. But we also need to speak on the positive of the progress that been made, and the good side of humanity as well.
Robert, i know it’s not exactly comparable, but my parents often tell me the day they told me i couldn’t wear my favourite dress to the first day of school was one of the hardest things they’ve ever had to do. it’s really upsetting to think that decent people have to change who they are because indecent people can’t learn that there’s nothing wrong with boys in dresses or men of colour in hoodies.
@hokesone
FYI I’m /u/mellowness from AMR (in case you didn’t know). I love AMR but I should probably take a break from that place because the MRA awfulness on Reddit is sometimes too much to bear.
Robert,
We still have so far to go. Thank you for sharing.
Not excluding she was a strength to her husband and his efforts as his wife .She was loyal to him unwavering until she died. Not to mention she had to endure the loss of her husband by EXECUTION/MURDER and she suffered over his loss but did not fall apart. Her support of him even excluding all her other contributions should not be overlooked.
dallasapple, her strength and courage is admirable.
Something I read years ago, about Bear Country.
Here in California, when hiking in bear country, it is common for hikers to carry cowbells. When you think there are bears around, you ring the bell or sing loudly. If bears hear you coming, they typically rumble off aways. If you surprise them, they feel threatened. A threatened bear is a dangerous beast.
Almost every place in the USA is bear country, if you’re a black man. I have to live with knowing this, and that my sons need to know this. Thank you, all of you, for giving me a place to say this without fear. Not everyone understands, not everyone is willing to hear it. I wish I could shield my sons (and husband) from it, and I can’t.
Not a fan of Bon Jovi but this was the version I liked most. It seemed appropriate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_vcTaDnLI8