Dr. King didn’t shrink from controversy. He spoke openly about American imperialism, unionization and labor rights, economic issues, and more. He was targeted, even called a ‘communist’ because of it. It’s on all of us to pick up where he left off. A Tweet by Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
We’re still in the Civil Rights Movement & don’t have the luxury of complacency. To honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we must abolish the Jim Crow filibuster, protect voting rights & legislate like democracy depends on it—because it does. A Tweet by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley @RepPressley
Dr. Martin Luther King was not treated very well by us White people while he was alive. As Representative Ayanna Pressley said: Dr. King wasn’t murdered because he was a preacher, pacifist with a dream, that is revisionist history. He was murdered because he was a radical disruptor of the status quo, considered by the FBI & white America to be a threat to our country. The FBI even tried to blackmail him, suggesting that he kill himself. He didn’t become an American hero until after he was dead and no longer a threat to White supremicy. Today is a good day to remember that.
David Sedaris was a kid eating dinner with his parents in a restaurant in the South when MLK was killed. He said a bulletin on the TV announced that King was shot and everyone in the restaurant stood up and cheered. There’s no one of his stature leading civil rights today.
It wasn’t just King. there were others and they are given credit in the Lorraine Motel Museum, but, yeah, he was a giant. Maybe Stacy Abrams. I’ve never heard that story of people cheering in a restaurant, it surprises me but I’m not shocked.