The Creeping Distorting and Obliteration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s True Legacy

I grew up understanding what racism was: making decisions or judgments based solely on race. One should always recognize shared humanity, but take into the contents of one's character.

However, we now live in an age in which up is down and down is up. The age of MSNBC editing George Zimmerman's 911 call, omitting entire chunks so as to make it sound as though he was preoccupied with the fact that Trayvon Martin was black. (Zimmerman acting rash and following Martin, when Martin walking down the street was none of Zimmerman's business, is a separate issue). The age of pundits equating being pro-limited government, pro-2nd Amendment, and pro-life as being "racist". The age of shutting out well-founded opposition to the president's policies with the ad hominem "racist". 

Dr. King, however, got it. From his famous "I have a dream" speech, given on August 28th, 1964:

"When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the 'unalienable Rights' of 'Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.'" [Emphasis mine.]

This spirit of unity is lost on the veritable racists of today: those who asserted to me, in arguments online, absurdities like, "Not one white person has good intentions for black people. Not one." Those who consider ALL white males "privileged", whether they're a billionaire or a dying homeless junkie. (At this point, I'm sure one of these virulent racists wants to tell me, "Check your privilege, white boy.") Or those who partake in the Knockout "Game".

In this video, posted on YouTube in January 2012, the ever-driven, ever-passionate Luke Rudkowski of We Are Change interviews Dr. Benjamin Chavis, one-time assistant to Dr. King. Chavis tells Luke that Dr. King "felt that economic injustice was so acute in 1968", and hoped to "assemble the masses of poor people" in Washington, D.C. Chavis continues, "So, Dr. King was also in transition, evolution himself. He was very clear, up until the time of his assassination, that economic inequality, economic justice, was what we all should be working on." 

And we should expect no less of Dr. King, as he fundamentally understood and spoke favorably of the Bill of Rights. With the media and academia denigrating the Bill of Rights, and the military-industrial complex and global power brokers trampling all over it, a mind and spirit like Dr. King's should indeed be commemorated. 

-- Ryan