No. Martin Luther King Jr. was not a goody-two-shoes Civil Rights activist that White people love to prattle on about.
To be honest, he became much more of a radical activist towards the end of his lifetime. When I say more radical, I mean more Malcolm X-esque if you know what I mean. To this day, Martin Luther King’s historical ideology has still been washed in White perceptions.
So to right this wrong, here are three Martin Luther King quotes that white people are afraid to mention.
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“If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to hell”
Martin Luther King was an anti-capitalist. He was in support of a Universal Basic Income. These are values that America supports to the bone.
Most white people don’t want to talk about this because it undermines the very foundation of America. Black slaves were exploited for capitalism. Also, America has the biggest income inequality in the world, but let’s not talk about that.
If we can’t even give poor people food and water to live, America will go to hell. We’ve already seen the unrest caused by COVID. I don’t think I have to tell you what will come next if rent isn’t canceled.
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“And [America] has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about social justice and humanity”
This quote speaks so much to the past fifty or so years after segregation. After Jim Crow Laws were lifted, institutional racism still persists widely in America to this day. Black people are still redlined out of decent housing. Black women still have the highest child-birth mortality rates in America. Schools in Black areas are heavily underfunded.
Now we’re living in a period of “white silence” where white people are afraid to recognize the disgusting history of this country.
Remaining complicit is just as bad as being a white supremacist. As we’ve seen with the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer, racism is still running rampant. The moral of this quote: White people, if you see something racist, speak up.
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“I am sorry to say that the vast majority of White Americans are racists, either consciously or subconsciously”
Quite frankly, this is why I’m cautious about the white people I surround myself with. Reading the story of Emmet Till my freshman year of high school traumatized me to the point where I didn’t know how to act around white people. Also, hearing how traumatized my grandma was during Jim Crow left a horrible taste in my mouth.
Every day I have to be on guard.
I can’t trust any white person because even if they may not be outwardly racist, they still might hold subconscious racism in their hearts. No matter how much they deny it, I can’t ignore this factor. So yes, if you see a black person, chances are they’re steering clear of you for safety.
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Final Thoughts
These are quotes that need to be talked about in the classroom. Not a bullshit story where every white and black person broke bread together and became friends. It’s historically inaccurate and I hope this will prompt people of every race to teach their children the same history.
If you’re white and you got offended by this, oh well.
The truth is the truth. And I’m never going to stop writing about that.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Unseen Histories on Unsplash