It was a typical Thursday, April 4, 1968. That evening was no different than any other weekday in 1968. I was 12 years old and enrolled in a school program for intelligent and gifted children whose existence acknowledged what should have been obvious, Black and Puerto Rican kids are smart too. Unfortunately, what came along with the privilege was an enormous amount of homework. I’m aware that today many may believe homework is antithetical to learning. Still, my parents, teacher, and I (begrudgingly) agreed that homework helped to hone and understand topics and concepts.
There were five kids in my family, and because three of my siblings were in their late teens or older, it afforded me an unusual amount of solitude in a household of seven. Also, since my older brother was never around this time, I had the luxury of stretching out and studying on the top bunk of our trundle bed.
My usual routine was to lay out my textbooks and turn on the radio to my favorite station, WWRL, and both found and hit my groove that evening. Except, at approximately 6:00 PM, there was a news break. You could tell by the announcers halting delivery that something terrible had happened. Reverend Dr. King was shot and murdered in Memphis, TN. As those solemn words sank in, I began to cry a slow but steady stream of tears flowing down my face. Our home was not adorned with many pictures and artwork. Yet I distinctly remember the matching pitches of terracotta vases, a picture of my grandaunt Rose, and pictures of Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. was revered in our household.
I only had a 12-year-old understanding of the world. Still, I was old enough to know that Dr. King was a man singularly dedicated to making our country begin to live up to the promises made to all its citizens. I could feel his death would be more impactful to our nation than anyone in my lifetime. Five decades later, I believe that even more strongly.
Dr. King was the leader of a movement that fought to end the cannibalistic effects of racism and inequality in our society. It was a noble and just fight against a type of cancer that to this day still infects America. Doctor King and so many others were what we called “down for the cause.” Despite opportunities to profit from his position, Dr. King died with a net worth of zero. He was awarded $54,600 for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and donated every penny to the civil rights movement. Today that would be worth $517,000. More importantly, he put his life on the line daily for “the cause.”
As another celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day has passed, we have governors of states, like Ron DeSantis, who want to make it against the law to teach children about one of the most significant figures in our history. Some Governors and legislatures have cynically decreed that Martin Luther King Day should be shared with traitorous individuals like Robert E Lee. Then there are politicians like Chuck Grassley, who voted against Martin Luther King Jr. Day but currently quotes him as if he has had an epiphany. If your go-to quote from Dr. King is, “I look to the day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Then you claim that as evidence that King was not fighting for Americans to address and correct the ravages of slavery, Jim Crow, and discrimination, you have no credibility.
When Dr. King was alive, he was not the beloved figure that we know today. In 1966, according to a Gallup poll, his unfavorable rating was 63 percent. In a 1964 poll, the only public person that received less respect than King was George Wallace, King 42 percent, Wallace 47 percent. Imagine being almost despised as much as a card-carrying, self-avowed racist?
The Dr. King holiday is well deserved, and it is surprising and pleasing that commerce has not burdened us with a deluge of advertisements hawking “to die for” sales. What I find frustrating and infuriating is when certain groups of people remake Martin Luther King into someone they feel comfortable with.
One group of people, mainly on the Right, have tried turning Doctor King into a “Dream Heart Care Bear.” This portrayal of him diminishes his brilliance, dedication, courage, leadership, and organizational skills. It completely ignores the significant accomplishments during his lifetime. This disfigurement of his image has even led people on the Right to politically claim that King would be a Republican today and that he was an advocate for a colorblind society. These people entirely ignore Dr. King’s insistent demands for systemic, institutional, and economic change.
It’s also disturbing to see some people on the Left try to turn Dr. King into a beret-wearing, red flag-waving Socialist. What are some of the arguments for this? First, the idea that his statements about capitalism’s refusal to devote more funds toward social programs wrongly assume that support for social programs and equity equals dedication to a socialistic ideology. Doctor king often criticized capitalism as he should have but never praised socialism as its replacement, nor did he advocate government control of the means of production. The argument that Dr. King was a socialist is an incredible reach.
Rather than turning up the King into some shape-shifting creature to fit our ideology or speculating what doctor king believed and stood for, I prefer to let Dr. King’s last words tell us who he was.
“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell him not to talk too long. Every now and then, I wonder what I want him to say.
Tell him not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize–that isn’t important. Tell him not to mention that I have 300 or 400 other awards–that’s not important. Tell him not to mention where I went to school.
I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe the naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. And I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.
Yes, if you want to, say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness.
And all of the other shallow things will not matter.
I won’t have any money to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that is all I want to say. If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a well song, if I can show somebody he’s traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr. (at the request of his widow, these recorded words of Dr. King’s last sermon were played at his funeral)
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