The real Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Banned Histories of Race in America
This is the time of year when we’re showered with innocuous, out-of-context, “inspirational” quotes from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. These quotes reduce him to little more than a greeting-card Magical Negro, and me to my last nerve.
I’ll be sending the regularly scheduled program on Thursday morning, but just for the sake of the day, in no particular order, here are some Dr. King quotes that actually represent his thoughts and work.
“White Americans must recognize that justice for black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society.”
—Where Do We Go from Here? 1967
“…the price that America must pay for the continued oppression of the Negro and other minority groups is the price of its own destruction.”
—The American Dream: July 4, 1965
“The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and racism. The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.”
—King to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) board on March 30, 1967.
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
—A Time to Break the Silence: April 4, 1967
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
—Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963
“Again we have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifices. Capitalism was built on the exploitation of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad.”
—The Three Evils speech, 1967