pinky-wink |
|
_______________
_______________ Recent Posts: Health Care Follies ... Put your money where your mouth is ...
|
Friday, January 13, 2006
A watered down MLK on the rocks, please ...
 Monday is the annual Martin Luther King Holiday, where folks from all over the country will get the day off from school (I hope), or perhaps from work. Like most holidays, we'll probably forget to take the time to think about King and his legacy, but just in case you're interested the story of this holiday is pretty good.It turns out the ratification of this holiday marks the official moment when King was forever stolen from the left. The holiday was proposed in 1983, and the House quickly passed the measure by overwhelming majorit (390-60, I think). Senate debate was minimal, but centered around Jesse Helms' contentions that King was a communist and a radical. What is interesting is that the Democrats didn't agree. In fact, the Dems went out of their way to call Helms a liar, and declare his evidence suspect. Sen. Edward Kennedy denounced the Helms speech as "Red smear tactics" that should be "shunned by the American people." The news media agreed and called Helms all sorts of names. With the threat of appearing racist, the Republicans lined up to vote for MLK Day, and the rest is history. The problem was two-fold. First, Helms wasn't lying. King was know to associate with many communists, placed communists in charge of SCLC chapters, and was a strong supporter of labor unions. He was quite radical in his beliefs and his work. Remember, he was assassinated supporting a Sanitation Workers strike in Memphis - a far cry from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  The other part of the problem is that the Democrats refused to acknowledge this history. Instead of heralding King as a visionary leftist, the Democrats rolled over again and again to declare that King was not a radical at all.Thus, in a brilliant strategic maneuver on the part of the Republicans, endorsing a King holiday has effectively sanitized and defanged King's legacy. They can now claim King to be one of their own - in fact in '83 Pat Buchanan was heard talking about how King would disapprove of the second March on Washington (led by Jesse Jackson Jr.). Buchanan would know? Sure, because King wanted a country based on the "content of character" not the "color of skin". By clinging to this quote, Republicans are able to declare affirmative action as anti-King. Welfare as anti-King. Criticism of the prison system's inherent racism as anti-King. The list goes on and on.  No conservative would dare criticize the holiday now, because they want to show that they "get it" about black people in America. Yet conservatives will bend over backwards to create voucher systems that allow wealthy children to abandon their (often black) poorer brethren in public schools. They'll spend hours talking about the woes of affirmative action. They demand an end to welfare and other social programs that benefit millions of African-Americans. They are quick to point out that racism is "over" in this country. Is it?On Monday I'll be thinking about King and what he really stood for. Not just a country where folks aren't judged by the color of their skin, but a country that attempts to make up for past wrongs.  
|
9 Comments:
Great post once again Foley! I never really thought of MLK like this.
rsw -
#1 - of course, we do it all the time. I just think it is a particular shame in the case of MLK because he was such a visionary. To have watered down his message of economic and racial equality into "I have a dream" is particularly disturbing to me.
#2 - I believe conservatives completely believe the "content of the character" line, because they tend to believe two things:
first, anyone who tries hard enough can be successful in this country (all evidence to the contrary aside), and ...
racism is not a real problem in this country, and therefore does not need to be addressed in any significant fashion.
King was quite clear that he endorsed reparations, affirmative action, and neo-socialist approaches to economic problems. It offends me that conservatives have chosen to latch on to one slice of this man's vast body of words and use it to justify their own counter-King agenda. It is dishonest and disgraceful.
But let me ask you this: does racism play any part in a black person's ability to make it in this country? Or are we really in a situation where "content of character" is all that matters?
I think there are a number of issues facing the decendents of slaves, but I don't think discrimination based on skin color is the near the top of the list.
What are they? I'm totally interested in hearing your thoughts on this. You may be right, but I always think of what I call the "Dee Brown Equation".
Put a basketball in Dee's hands and he has legions of mainly white basketball fans who love him, white girls who want to sleep with him, and white adults who want their picture taken with him.
Take the ball out of his hands and have him walk down the street in, say, Cherry Hills at two in the morning. What do you think is going to happen?
Is this racism?
I don't think King is taught properly because conservatives want him watered down so they can claim him for their own, and liberals want him nice and safe so he can be mass consumed as a model for civil rights.
I think the liberals are wrong, and the conservatives are genius on this one. The libs should be shouting his take on affirmative action from the rooftops, and using prefaces like "well, Dr. King wanted a country based on equal distribution of wealth, so ..."
Your stereotypes are really disappointing. As a person who works with lots of black kids and their parents, I don't see what you are claiming I am supposed to be seeing.
Sure, there are tons of black kids who get in trouble. There are also tons of white kids who get in trouble. The percentages show that the more of the black kids get in trouble (per capita or whatever) but there are a lot of reasons for this, not just their perceived victimhood.
Think about the inequalities. Think about the messages sent to black kids from the criminal justice system. Think about systemic poverty.
There are a lot of reasons for the problems African-Americans face in this country. Rap music and affirmative action wouldn't even make my list as problems.
But that's just me. If you're in any way interested in learning more about how you can help the kids in this community, you ought to consider mentoring at UMS. Let me know if you're interested. :)
I didn't mean to claim your issues were stereotypes, and I apologize for making it sound that way.
I see BET as a symptom of a larger problem. Why are they singing about gangsters and cops? Why is that the big issue in black entertainment? Why if 50 Cent the face of young black males?
We can blame the video, but the video is a reflection of the problems in society. I'd prefer to look at those problems, and what causes them, then at the videos.
And yes, I know plenty of kids whose moms are burning the candle at both ends. I'm not sure what to do about that. It is particularly disturbing in a society as wealthy as ours, especially considering the reason the black family is in this country in the first place.
My take would be that this is an economic problem, not a cultural problem. Goes to loss of manufacturing, white flight, underfunding of schools, etc.
There are a lot of things we could be doing to fix the problem. But we don't. That might be the biggest tell on the racist make-up of our society yet.
Also, who creates the content that is seen on BET? Here's a hint, "It's not talented hip-hop artists..."
There is absolutely no doubt that there are cultural differences that affect the African American community's ability to "succeed" in the U.S. That doesn't mean that it's not institutional racism that is a root cause for these dynamics...
bell hooks has written beautifully about the need for love in the African American community. The difference between her and someone like Sowell, is that she's smart and loving enough to work to address those problems and hold society accountable for them rather than just say, "I'm an awesome token and these problems are black people's fault!" (That's a direct quote from Sowell Ok, not really, but you get the point..:))
You see, for some reason affluent ethnic majority people seem to blame ALL poor minority folks for the effects of widespread problems like poverty, crime, etc. Those social problems are not merely the sole responsibility of the individual, and certainly they are not the responsibility of those of similar class or ethnic background. They are just that--social problems--which must be addressed by the society as a whole should we wish to have a healthy society.
Many of us are still woefully ignorant of what W.E.B. Dubois discovered over 100 years ago:
"It (his research) revealed the Negro group as a symptom, not a cause; as a striving, palpitating group, and not an inert, sick body of crime; as a long historic development and not a transient occurrence."
"Yet conservatives will bend over backwards to create voucher systems that allow wealthy children to abandon their (often black) poorer brethren in public schools."
The logic of this is interesting. A moment's thought would have led me to conclude the opposite. Wealthy people do not need a voucher to escape public eduction, poor people need the voucher to escape public education. Actually, even middle class people escape. Go check out Holy Cross and look at the middle class in action. On the other hand, it would be nice to get some poor people with vouchers there also.
on the topic of school vouchers:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA
article:
http://www.reason.com/hod/js011306.shtml
and here's a rebuttal:
http://www.myscschools.com/superintendent/messages/edlist02022006.html
Ok, so maybe I should maintain my blog again? Yeesh, I'm a slacker.
Anon - if you want to see the middle class "in action" you're better off looking at public schools. The VAST majority of middle class folks put their kids through public schools mainly, I believe, because of the superior extra-curriculars.
And I should not that the vouchers will do little to help poor folk over the private school hump. Vouchers will drive up the price of tuition, making those that extra $1000 or whatever that is needed (a lot of money for poor family) into 2 or 3 thousand.
Edna - you site is awesome, and I love your taste in music. Della Reese? It's about time. Are you an Eartha Kitt fan?
Oh, and your links are good reading as well. Thanks for the ideas. :)
Post a Comment
<< Home