MLK's Complex Legacy

With primaries having moved into South Carolina, increasingly there is realization that the element of racism there is something candidates have to factor in, and, disgracefully enough, some use it. The nastiness of the occupied White House probably most stood out in the 2001 primary use of whisper campaigning against John McCain. Rumors about his illegitimate black child are thoroughly known, and known for their raw racism, now - but back then they defeated him.

With the Martin Luther King holiday coming up, I want to remind readers that although we think of MLK as a hero, not everyone does, yet, in the old South. Jesse Helms was famous for calling him a Commie. In case you've never heard the smears, I will quote from Helms below, in 1983, on the floor of the House.

Mr. President, in light of the comments by the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), it is important that there be such an examination of the political activities and associations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., principally from the beginning of his work in the civil rights movement in the mid 1950s until his death in 1968. Throughout this period, but especially toward the beginning and end of his career, King associated with identified members of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA), with persons who were former members of or close to the CPUSA, and with CPUSA front organizations. In some important respects King's civil rights activities and later his opposition to the Vietnam war were strongly influenced by and dependent on these associations.

Your first reaction is probably one of revulsion, and the conviction that remarks like this would be greeted with total rejection today. I hope so. I am too familiar with the undertow in the south not to realize that these same sentiments are alive and well, if unspoken publicly, and still influencing voters in the southern racist milieu that still hangs on like a parasite.

Interestingly, an author recently took this theme up, the lessons that we don't teach as much as his civil rights work, about Martin Luther King.

America's commemoration of King's vision is only partial. King's life encompassed more than simply his moving rhetoric and desegregated lunch counters. The politics King espoused toward the end of his life - and the part that America has effectively ignored - may provide some invaluable lessons, given the current international climate.

King became a vocal critic of US foreign policy, denouncing America's "giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism," and calling the US "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." Across the globe, from Vietnam to Asia to Latin America, King believed the US was "on the wrong side of a world revolution."

What, then, would King make of our current war on terrorism? Although terrorism poses historically new and unique threats, communism in King's time presented an equally menacing peril. As a man who told his followers to "love your enemies," it is doubtful that he would embrace the war fever that has gripped this nation since Sept. 11, 2001. How to reconcile King's belief in "turning the other cheek" with President Bush's doctrine of preemptive strikes?

It is equally unlikely that King, who warned that "a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death," would support the huge price tag of our war with Iraq, especially when Iraq's link to the events of Sept. 11 is nebulous at best, and when there are serious economic concerns at home.

While we can be sure that the war criminals in the executive branch will be trotting out lots of signs of support, the message of peace will be totally submerged in their memorials. MLK broke with President Johnson on Vietnam - this warmongering group will ignore that legacy. The 'liberal' press deserted him to some degree, and I have heard black leaders say that MLK was warned by members of the press that his civil rights work would suffer from his anti-war activities.

There is much still wrong with attitudes in many regions, and in many political factions, of our country. Who is working to change them? Al Gore is one modern day hero, activist, undaunted in his insistence on saving this world from polluting.
Isn't it time we joined in to make changes?

I like Hecate's statement this a.m. at Eschaton, that she was planning to donate her stimulus package to Democratic candidates. That makes a lot of sense, and strikes me as a sound investment to guard against the economic chaos that the economic policies of the GOPerv party have brought and will bring into disastrous effect in our society.

I've joined the campaign for House candidate Dr. Glenn Melancon, and would appreciate your helping by choosing him at Democracy for America. Every seat in Congress occupied by an intelligent and progressive member of Congress helps against the disastrous policies of the right wing. Thanks for your help, it's for you, too.