MLK’s Legacy

January 15, 2024

     Today marks the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday.  In the years since his assasination, his words have been twisted by cynical opportunists to mean the opposite of what he believed.  His legacy has been flattened such that the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who exists in the public imagination bears little resemblance to the real man, who decried racism, capitalism and militarism as the three evils at the root of what sickened the American soul.

     Fifty-six years after Dr. King’s murder, the legal framework that the United States was pressured into passing thanks to the work of Dr. King and other civil rights activists from Bayard Rustin to Ella Baker to Fannie Lou Hamer is under attack. The gains of that movement are being dismantled piece by piece by piece by a mob of mediocre white men, aided by their accomplices in the mainstream media who either secretly believe the propaganda that Black people are intellectually inferior or are so focused on chasing a dollar that they will welcome fascism with open arms if it boosts their stock price.

     The people seeking to destroy Dr. King’s legacy are not subtle.  The fate of the first Black President of Harvard University is a case in point.  Christoper Rufo announced his game plan to take down Dr. Claudine Gay on X and the media cluelessly played along, with The New York Times publishing an astonishing number of articles on the firestorm surrounding Dr. Gay, replicating the dispiriting pattern where the qualifications of Black people are always in doubt, (Source:  “The Persecution of Harvard’s Claudine Gay,” by Charles Blow, The New York Times, 1/3/24).  There was no way that Dr. Gay could survive the barrage of racist and misogynistic attacks.  On January 2nd, she resigned from Harvard’s presidency.

       Congressional backbencher Elise Stefanik and Harvard Extension School grad, Christopher Rufo wasted no time in taking a victory lap.(Source:  “‘Victory’:  Claudine Gay’s Resignation From the Harvard Presidency Comes as a Win for Her Critics,” by Madelyn A. Hung and Joyce E. Kim., The Harvard Crimson, 1/3/24).

      Flush with victory, Rufo announced that he plans to stop at nothing less than dismantling DEI in every facet of American life.  Let’s be clear, the opposite of diversity, equity and inclusion is homogeneity, inequality and exclusion.  That is the America that Rufo, Stefanik and their financier Bill Ackman seek to re-establish.

       Their playbook is gallingly transparent:  1) Dismantle all ladders to erasing inequality by attacking diversity measures as “reverse discrimination,” (Source: “DEI backlash has companies quietly changing their programs to avoid wave of lawsuits alleging discrimination,” by Alexandra Olson, Haleluya Hadero, Anne D’Innocenzio and The Associated Press, Fortune.com, 1/15/24); 2) Ban the teaching of accurate American History that details the myriad obstacles to advancement placed in the  paths of Black, Indigenous and other people of color and ban books about the achievements of Black people or anyone from a marginalized group, (Source:  “Blocking Black History is an attempt to counter Black Power,” by Kate Aguilar, The Washington Post,2/1/23); and 3) Erect legal barriers to political participation by BIPOC Americans and their progressive allies, robbing them of a voice in who holds power in this country, (Source:  “Redistricting fights across South put the Voting 

Rights Act in the spotlight once again,” by Fredreka Schouten, CNN.com, 12/21/23).

This hydra-headed legal and political attack on civil rights has been aided by the ever present threat of political violence, as evidenced by the recent swatting attacks on Judges Tanya Chutkan and Arthur Engoron. If we don’t want these fascistic forces to run the table in 2024, we will need to overcome our fear and exhaustion and resist the urge to turn away from conflict and chaos because we want “peace.” Remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” Let’s really honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and get to work!