Martin Luther King

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Not to be confused with Martin Luther
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
—MLK
"I have a dream!"

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 — 1968) was a Baptist minister in the U.S. who was at the forefront of the civil rights movement in the 1950's and 60's. His most famous moment was his "I Have a Dream" speech, given on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. in 1963. He is credited as essential to the political pressure leading to the passage of the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts in 1965.

Dr. King was then assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

His birthday, January 15, is now honored in the United States with a holiday (formerly "Civil Rights Day" in laggard states) celebrated on the third Monday of January. Racists throughout the South refer to it as James Earl Ray Day, after his assassin.[1] Others refer to it as Robert E. Lee Day, and indeed the general shares Rev. King's legal holiday in many states.

Contents

[edit] Was he a conservative?

Occasionally, present day conservatives attempt to portray MLK as one of their own, within the context of using ethos to bolster the perceived legitimacy and power of their position. The historical record does not attest to this at all.

Doctor King...

  • Supported a higher minimum wage.
  • Called for compensation for historic wrongs against blacks.
  • Considered the Vietnam War an attempt to create a US colony,[2] and called the US "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."
  • Was affiliated with the very liberal Highlander Folk School.[3] In fact, it was after he first listened to that Pinko Commie scumbag Pete Seeger sing the song that he said, on a ride back from a speech at the school, "Gee, that song Seeger was singing, 'We Shall Overcome,' sure has a nice ring."[4]
  • Organized a campaign for the rights of poor people, including calls for more federal money to be given to the impoverished of all races.
  • Went to Memphis (where he was assassinated) to support black sanitation workers on strike there.
  • Called himself a socialist in private on several occasions: "I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic,"[5] and "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism,"[6] while criticizing the "strangulating totalitarianism" prescribed by Marx.[7]
  • Bayard Rustin,[wp] who taught King everything he knew about Gandhi and non-violence, was openly gay and had been arrested for public indecency with another man (meaning he was doing the nasty in a parked car when the cops found him and hauled him off to jail). Members of Congress tried to use this affiliation to smear King as a two-timing homo, but King merely asked Rustin to stay away from the limelight when things got heavy. In the end, Rustin co-ordinated and organized the entire March on Washington, up to and including the "I Have A Dream" speech, proving that the LGBTQ community will always throw the best and most successful parties in American history.
  • Was a mean pool shark.
  • Had an incredibly liberal sex life.

The gist of the argument is that MLK is far more of an independent than he was a supporter of either party, whom he felt were just as responsible for the turmoil of his time. Half of the sitting Democrats from the South were old-time asshole Dixiecrats who had rallied around Strom Thurmond when he walked out of the 1948 Democratic Convention after the party approved a desegregation plank. To be fair, he once gave a fairly half-hearted vote of confidence to the GOP, since Eisenhower had been the last elected Republican President, leading many to think that perhaps that was the party of responsibility and sanity (those were the days). What King never would have known is that Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon were, at that point in time, laying the ground-work for the Southern strategy, wherein, after generations of voting Democrat, Dixie would flip overnight and become the strongest supporter of Lincoln's party. The loud ker-thump heard around America on Election Night when Nixon won was the seismic effect of every Confederate soldier and vet doing back-flips in their graves.

[edit] King and the U.S. government

In an attempt to detract from his achievements, the United States government conducted a prolonged campaign intended to undermine King's power and reputation; they tried to label him as a communist sympathizer, and to discredit him by revealing him to be "amoral" in his personal relationships.

[edit] Commies

President John F. Kennedy and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover authorized a wiretap on Dr. King's phones in 1962 and possibly longer. The FBI bugged his home, his office, and hotel rooms in the cities he traveled to. The taps were part of an attempt to frame Stanley Levison, a lawyer King had ties to, as a communist. King adamantly denied that he or anyone in the freedom movement were communists. The taps continued with little to no legal authorization, years beyond the original "search and explore for a month" that Kennedy authorized. King made several public comments during this surveillance, arguing that Hoover's goal had little to do with uprooting communists but was simply an attack on King's own status meant to give Hoover cover with the Southern political machine. The FBI's own words give hint to what their goal was: "[King is] the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country."[8]

[edit] Adulterer

The American public, the church organizations that have been helping — Protestants, Catholics and Jews will know you for what you are — an evil beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done. King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significant [sic]). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy fraudulent self is bared to the nation.
The FBI An "anonymous letter"[9]

Unable to prove he was a commie, the US government leaked information on his private life that suggested, if not proved, that he had had several sexual relationships outside of his marriage. In political games no different than those played today, Lyndon Johnson called King a "hypocritical preacher," LBJ's personal life notwithstanding. Since his death, more and more speculation and scrutiny into King's life has shown that he had several extramarital affairs, though none seem to have evolved past an emotional level. These revelations should in no way detract from the significance of MLK's impact on society, nor do they logically serve to discredit him.

In studying real conspiracies, Thomas Burnett[10] and Nick Kotz demonstrated a direct plot against King's reputation. Evidence from wiretaps were distributed not only to high ranking government officials but friendly reporters, then sent King anonymous letters threatening to expose him by going public.

[edit] Police incompetence

In a final blow to decency, there is now evidence that the FBI was watching King through carved peepholes in the window coverings of the hotel he was staying at, the night he was assassinated. An undercover FBI agent was the first on the scene. No APB was issued for Dr. King's killer. This has led to speculation that the FBI was actually involved.[11]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. We're not linking to it.
  2. Martin Luther King Jr. made our nation uncomfortable, Washington Post (Maybe 40 years too early.)
  3. See the Wikipedia article on Highlander Research and Education Center.
  4. King, Martin Luther, Michael K. Honey, and Martin Luther King. All Labor Has Dignity. Boston, MA: Beacon, 2011. ISBN 0807086029
  5. The Anti-Capitalism of Martin Luther King Jr., HuffPo
  6. Franklin, Robert Michael (1990). Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African-American Thought. Fortress Press. pp. 125. ISBN 0800623924.
  7. “My Pilgrimage to Nonviolence”, Stanford University
  8. Emphasis not in the original
  9. Like all frauds your end is approaching, Letters of Note
  10. Burnett, Thom (2005). Conspiracy Encyclopedia. Collins & Brown. p. 58. ISBN 1843402874.
  11. Knight, Peter (2003). Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 408–9. ISBN 1576078124
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