Remembering Dr. King
Washington Watch
January 24, 2022
Dr. James J. Zogby ©
President
Arab American Institute
Last week, we celebrated Martin Luther King Day — a national holiday dedicated to the life and legacy of one of the twentieth century’s greatest champions in the struggle for equality and justice. The effort to gain national recognition for MLK Day took 14 years — from when it was first proposed in 1970, until it was finally passed by Congress and signed into law in 1983.
It has long been troubling to many of us who fought to have this day recognized that, instead of remembering King as he really was, the meaning of the day and the memory of Dr. King have been hollowed out. He has been transformed into a fuzzy, feel-good figure, and the struggles for which he gave his life have been largely ignored.
Getting the holiday established was controversial because King himself was controversial. He was a true transformational historical figure who fought against racial discrimination, militarism, and economic injustice. During his lifetime, even many of those who supported his struggle to end racial segregation in the South and to secure voting rights for Blacks could not accept the broader vision King projected. When he moved the focus of his movement from protesting segregation in the South to confronting discriminatory policies in housing and education in the North, or when he spoke out against the evils inherent in the US war in Vietnam, or when he embraced the cause of economic justice for those who were denied opportunity in the wealthiest nation on Earth by supporting striking workers or mobilizing the poor people’s campaign — he was rebuked by some who said, "You should stay in your lane" and "Why are you getting involved in issues that detract from your central message?"
By the time Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, he had become a figure of controversy for many Americans. That was to be expected precisely because the moral challenges he presented were so deeply upsetting to those who embraced and benefited from the status quo.
As it is with humankind, with the passage of time we tend to forget the past. We gloss over and romanticize it. It was precisely this process of historical amnesia that we sought to upend by establishing a day honoring Dr. King. Our hope in securing the recognition of King Day was not only that he would be remembered as a leader and a man who devoted his life to the fight against injustice, but also that the realities he confronted and the injustices he opposed would never be forgotten.
It's important to note that almost 70 percent of the current population of America were either not alive or were not living in the US during King's lifetime — they either hadn’t been born yet or had not yet immigrated to the US. Therefore, this majority of our population today have no personal recollection of segregated lunch counters, water fountains and bathrooms, of the dogs and fire hoses that were unleashed on Black children simply because they were protesting for equality. And they don't remember the disgusting racist rhetoric used by elected officials —senators, governors, and others — seeking to maintain the old, segregated order that King and his colleagues sought to tear down. Nor do they recall the horrors of the lives wasted in an unwinnable war in Vietnam and the trauma of a nation torn asunder by that conflict. And they do not remember the crisis of wretched poverty that plagued inner cities and rural regions — problems that then President Lyndon B. Johnson sought to address with his Great Society programs, which were tragically stymied by the political, economic, and social costs of the war. All of this needs to be remembered in order to understand King in the context of his time.
What we had hoped when we fought to commemorate his birthday was that King's Day would be one on which we would recall this history and the sacrifices Dr. King and so many others made in their efforts to bring needed change, and would then recommit ourselves to using, if necessary, the tools he had used to fight injustice, poverty, and war.
Given this background, with the economic and social challenges confronted by Dr. King still present, it is deeply distressing that four decades later the political and moral challenges he posed to the established order have been diluted or erased from historical memory. Today, America is still torn apart by deep and abiding racial inequities, extreme income and wealth disparity, challenges to voting rights, and misguided government budgets that prioritize militarism and waging unwinnable wars at the expense of the social well-being of citizens. In the face of these problems, it is an insult for us to celebrate Martin Luther King Day without the message of King and the empowering tactics he used being uppermost on our minds. We need him today as much as we needed him during his lifetime.
***
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Arab American Institute. The Arab American Institute is a non-profit, nonpartisan national leadership organization that does not endorse candidates.
Note: To discuss this column with me, please register here for my next ‘Coffee And A Column’ event Wednesday via Zoom.
