Now That He Is Safely Dead, Let Us Build Monuments To His Greatness

January 14, 2007

Now that he is safely dead, let us build monuments to his greatness.

Tomorrow, we have been told, is the day that we celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his life, contributions, and dream. We reflect upon the dream itself, it's progress, and hopefully, its fulfillment. We are to try out hardest to make sure that Dr. King did not die in vain. We are to try our hardest to make sure that his dream stays alive.

Whatever.

Let me clarify. Dr. King was a man of greatness. He was kind, courageous, just and determined. He continually put his own life at risk for the sake of causes he believed in with all of his might. He wrote great books, gave great lectures, and delivered great speeches. He was, in my opinion, the epitome of manhood. He was able to stand up when other sat down. Able to motivate millions of people when he was in need of encouragement. Able to be himself without justification, pause, or apologies. He was a man of righteous indignation and justified anger. However, it has only been of late that I met this Dr. King that I speak of.

Growing up, Dr. King was the man with the "dream," who was shot and killed because he wanted Black folks to be able to sit at counters with white folks and eat burgers together. He was the man who wanted little white kids and Black kids (always the white kids first) to be able to join hands and sing Negro spirituals. He was the man that all my white teachers suggested I study when I wanted to study Josephine Baker (whom, they informed me, was a whore). He was the man who McDonalds aired commercials about on that day that we got off from school. He was a handsome, brown, cuddly man who always wore a smile and a dapper suit and hat. He was the man whom everyone loved.

It wasn't until later that I found out that everyone loved him because he was dead. All those white people who lauded him and sung his praises now had sung quite a different tune when he was alive. All of those white folks who quoted (or misquoted) him as they called for "racial reconciliation" ("reconciliation" being ridiculous as there was never any "conciliation" in the first place because of their crimes) were the same white folks whom he wrote to from a Birmingham jail. All those white folks who were so willing to dress their kids in Kente cloth vests for a day in order to sing gospel tunes with Black children were the same ones who would've never let Berniece or Dexter sit next to their kids in school. They were all the same white folks, or they were the children of the same white folks. (And yes, in my mind, that's damn near the same)

Now that King was safely buried in the ground, they could begin to drill one speech into our brains with the intensity of a child coloring with a dried up marker. They could press and press and press this one color, this one speech, into our collective memories and act as if this one speech represented all that King was, all that King wanted us to be, and all that we should be. Luckily for them, it seems that King's people have forgotten some key things about King himself. (With the help of some of King's people. *cougheddielongcough*)

The march at which Dr. King delivered the speech was called the "March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom." Not the "March On Washington For Black People To Convince White People That We Are Humans Too, And To Ask If They'll Please Allow Us To Live Next Door To Them Because That Would Be The Ultimate Dream Come True For Us Negroes." It wasn't called the "Let's All Stand Around Together Today, Smile Up In Each Others Faces And Act As If Racism Doesn't Exist March." And it damn sure wasn't called the "I Have A Dream March."

It was a march about goals of economic and racial equality. It was a march that shocked our then president, John F. Kennedy, because he had no idea that the Negroes were so unhappy. It was a march about the radicalism of everyone being able to have equal access to what this country has. It was a march about eradicating poverty, treating humans like humans, and acting like the good Christians that so many people in this country claimed to be. But even with all of that, it was just one march. It was one day out of millions of days. It was one event out of thousands of events. It was one speech out of hundreds of speeches. It was not the beginning and it wasn't the end.

Dr. King gave other speeches. Speeches about how evil war was. Speeches about evil poverty was. Speeches about how ridiculous the lack of good healthcare was. He said, "the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around." But yet, all we're bombarded with is, "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word," and "violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral." (We're mainly given that quote when white folks are afraid we're about to burn down some of their stuff.) But what about, "there is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it?"

Why is it that I hear more about Dr. King wanting Blacks and whites to like each other than I hear about statements such as, "we must never be ashamed of our heritage…or the color of our skin. Black is as beautiful as any color….I am black and beautiful." Why is it that we hear more about Dr. King wanting unity amongst Blacks and whites than we do about Dr. King wanting us to treat those who do not reside in America with the same dignity? What about when Dr. King said, "God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now….God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war…and we are criminals in that war. We have committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride, and our arrogance as a nation."

Why haven't we talked more about Dr. King; the realist? Why are we so stuck on Martin; the Dreamer? What good is a dream without actions? What good are quotable quotes without a complete picture?

I'll tell you what good they are. They're good for those who hated Dr. King when he was alive and now build monuments to him in his death because they know he's not alive to protect his own legacy and we're dense enough to let them create one for him. They're good for the "prosperity" pimps (and, although they don't know it, hoes) who call themselves preachers. They're good because they safely put blinders on our eyes. They raise up a man that we love and mutilate him into a man that they can love. They tell us just enough about him so that we can walk hand in hand one Monday out of the year and feel good about not going upside their heads for all the injustices we've suffered at their hands. They tell us just enough so that we can keep on hanging onto that one "dream" that has long since turned into a nightmare of gargantuan proportions. They tell us just enough so that we become so drunk off of the words in one speech that we can't see straight while they continually screw us with no lube.

Dr. King wasn't no damn teddy bear. Dr. King wasn't like the Jesus in the pictures who went around carrying lambs. Dr. King was more like the Jesus who went into the temple and overturned tables. He was a man who said things like, "But God has a way of putting nations in their place……He has a way of saying 'if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power.' And that can happen to America."

And yet, a man who lost his life while fighting for the rights of sanitation workers is now celebrated by Fortune 500 companies and we sit idly by as if that makes an ounce of sense. We listen to the "buddy-buddy" stories that people like Billy Graham tell about him when it's known that Billy Graham ain't never gave a damn about Black people until it was fashionable to do so. (and that fad has long since gone out of fashion) We sit around and listen to conservatives twist his words for their own twisted gain while they support a war that Dr. King would've been just as sickened by as he was by the Vietnam War.

What we (and yes, I'm talking to BLACK folks) need to do is stop dreaming and WAKE UP and smell the coffee (the black coffee; the coffee that hasn't been diluted with cream and sugar). We better take back Martin. We better let him have his own dream and think of some ways to get ourselves out of this terrible situation. We better remember who he was. We better be willing to give our lives just like he gave his.