Honoring the Full Scope of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Activism

It’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which means that today’s Internet is already full of white people using quotes from the groundbreaking civil rights leader to justify a lot of stupid shit. As many Black writers have pointed out, MLK occupies a challenging space in cultural consciousness. His quotes have been deeply edited, condensed, twisted around, and doctored to reflect a much rosier, less revolutionary politic than the man himself stood and fought for.

Perhaps the best we can do to honor his legacy is to point out the many ways in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words have been sanitized, erased, amended, and dumbed down to make Republicans somehow feel totally fine and not at all hypocritical when they use his quotes to justify being against Critical Race Theory. Remembering King’s impact means staying aware of how the fight for racial equality is far from over.

The Sincere:

Patti Labelle has one of the most incredible voices ever. This is her singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow🌈 for MLK Day. I would have been crying like a baby in there😭 pic.twitter.com/6lNViNmb4R

— Rob Sonder🍉 (@Thatbull_Rob) January 12, 2024

As you honor my father today, please remember and honor my mother, as well.

She was the architect of the King Legacy and founder of @TheKingCenter, which she founded two months after Daddy was assassinated.

Without #CorettaScottKing, there would be no #MLKDay. #MLK pic.twitter.com/UBMCSrEare

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) January 17, 2022

As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.’ Let us unite in voicing and openly condemning any violation of human rights. Silence only empowers injustice; our collective voices can drive positive change. pic.twitter.com/Om1Mhdbvcy

— Luo Man with some Power👌 (@MrLOmondi) January 12, 2024

Very proud to file a resolution with 47 cosponsors Honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Celebrating Diversity, Promoting Tolerance, and Condemning Hate. We still need Dr. King’s message, and as we celebrate his legacy, we must remember that diversity is our strength. pic.twitter.com/FQshnPVYSA

— Rep. Shontel Brown (@RepShontelBrown) January 12, 2024

Today, Yolanda shared a message of hope with Georgia. As the youngest keynote speaker in the history of GA’s MLK tribute ceremony, she made her parents—and her generation—proud.

Mom and Dad’s legacy belongs to everyone. It’s incumbent on all of us to realize their dream. pic.twitter.com/Dah9PaMEeN

— Martin Luther King III (@OfficialMLK3) January 12, 2024

I have a somewhat standard annual #MLK post, a reminder that he was not a Social Justice character created for select quotes and cosplay, but let me first start with HIS birthday song, now that I’ve learned we failed to keep the backstory of the song alive. https://t.co/wxbLCbk4M5

— Naima Cochrane (Original Recipe) (@naima) January 18, 2021

This one feels right today:

“In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

— Mara Gay (@MaraGay) January 17, 2022

The Corrective:

Get ready for the incoming tug of war over the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. where he will be quoted by everyone in the world who has no business saying his name now or ever. Watch all the genocidal politicians, police, feds, and fascists be shameless.

— William C. (@williamcson) January 12, 2024

“I think the tragedy is that we have a Congress with a Senate that has a minority of misguided senators who will use the filibuster to keep the majority of people from even voting.”#MartinLutherKing , 1963https://t.co/zhmctWHj7x pic.twitter.com/NEnLhVvtE3

— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) January 17, 2022

This is the Dr. King you don’t often hear about. The anti-war, anti-poverty socialist radical who was denounced by newspapers, pundits, & politicians of all stripes.

It was only after he was gone, when they could sanitize his message, that the powerful began to invoke his name. pic.twitter.com/aA2GoZZtdx

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 17, 2022

No matter what qoutes are used today, never forget that 75% of Americans disapproved of MLK as he spoke out against the Vietnam War and economic disparity right before his assasination

— Anthony V. Clark (@anthonyvclark20) January 17, 2022

on this MLK day remember the radical, socialist, anti-imperialist MLK that liberals and conservatives erased from history pic.twitter.com/ZNalgk4XnG

— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) January 17, 2022

If there is one MLK JR quote you should note, it is this. pic.twitter.com/26NJn097aV

— Low skilled Sam O (he/him) #GetVax (@ThaRealSamO) January 17, 2022

Ok, I’ll say it — If you’re a Republican who’s against teaching Black/Native history in public schools — you don’t get to quote MLK today.

— Lakota Man (@LakotaMan1) January 17, 2022

I grew up surrounded by white people who selectively quoted King to prove that they weren’t racist even as they accused me of sounding white b/c I spoke better than them.

I hated MLK Day back then b/c I thought it existed to excuse their shittiness. Now I’m claiming it for me.

— Juan Michael Porter II (@juanmichaelii) January 17, 2022

The Instructive:

“So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pic.twitter.com/xNgFuqIM7V

— Allison Wiltz Psy.M. (@queenie4rmnola) January 12, 2024

I don’t want to see any MLK quotes today from Republicans who tried to overturn 2020 election & throw out millions of Black & Brown votes, passed wave of new voter suppression laws to continue insurrection through other means & now blocking critical voting rights legislation

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) January 17, 2022

Bracing myself for a slew of MLK quotes Monday from folks who have spent nearly every other day of the past year fighting against CRT …

— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) January 17, 2022

Being Black on days like today is…rough.

Don’t quote MLK one day a year and think you’ve done enough. Actually listen to and read his words, and actually be supportive of Black people during the other 364 days of the year.

— Heather Barmore (@HeatherBarmore) January 17, 2022

“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance,” MLK Jr. wrote in 1967. “It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.” https://t.co/J9iiwgCpTa

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) January 17, 2022

Further Learning:

Here’s the trailer for ‘GENIUS: MLK/X’ starring Kelvin Harrison Jr. as
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Aaron Pierre as Malcolm X.

The limited series premieres Feb. 1 on National Geographic and streams Feb. 2 on Disney+ and Hulu. pic.twitter.com/hzqM7gTzbG

— Geeks of Color (@GeeksOfColor) January 11, 2024

Dr. King’s March on the Ballot Boxes Is Under Threat Today https://t.co/YuXAwmBwmJ pic.twitter.com/jFsG1SRnnS

— The Root (@TheRoot) January 17, 2022

EXCLUSIVE: In an exclusive interview with theGrio’s @AprilDRyan, Dr. King’s daughter Bernice King, CEO of The King Center, reflected on her father’s legacy on what would’ve been his 93rd birthday if he were alive today. https://t.co/4USlH0QUzl

— theGrio.com (@theGrio) January 17, 2022

On the night before he was assassinated, Dr. King gave a speech in support of the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike. Directly challenging the systemic oppression of racist capitalism, this is the MLK we should be quotinghttps://t.co/ZQLqPVAb1p

— Zaron Burnett III (@Zaron3) January 17, 2022

And a parting note:

 

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