Zone1 Martin Luther King Was Not "Colorblind"

[IM2]

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought against white racism. When he made his famous speech in 1963, he said that he wanted his kids to live in a world without white racism. Almost every word Dr. King spoke was in opposition to that same racism. Some Americans need to learn that he was asking whites to stop being racists and that whites start looking at blacks not for the color of our skin but that WHITES begin looking at us for the content of our character. He was not asking blacks to ignore white racism while lying to themselves about being colorblind. His dream was about the end of white racism.

King informed white society of our responsibility to abide by just laws and to disobey or reject unjust ones. None of that involves being quiet or not talking about race, thinking that will make the problem disappear. Indeed,we are to continue taking direct action against unjust laws and policies. Americans on the right love to bring up his philosophy of nonviolence when blacks start speaking in harsh tones. King did advocate nonviolence, but he did not support shut up and take it. His nonviolence plan was about direct action and confrontation. Dr. King’s nonviolence campaign consisted of six steps:

STEP ONE: INFORMATION GATHERING.
STEP TWO: EDUCATE OTHERS.
STEP THREE: PERSONAL COMMITMENT.
STEP FOUR: NEGOTIATIONS.
STEP FIVE: DIRECT ACTION.
STEP SIX: RECONCILIATION.

Martin Luther King Jr,, Six Steps for Nonviolent Direct Action,

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/.../six_steps_for_nonviolent_direct_action_2.pdf

If anyone today believes that if King were living, he would denounce blacks who hold whites who still practice racism accountable, you are sorely mistaken. If you think King would not have supported DEI,CRT, the 1619 Project, the Black Lives Matter Movement or any of the blacks in leadership right now, his words speak for themselves:

Where do we go from here? First, we must massively assert our dignity and worth. We must stand up amid a system that still oppresses us and develop an unassailable and majestic sense of values. We must no longer be ashamed of being black.

To offset this cultural homicide, the Negro must rise up with an affirmation of his own Olympian manhood. Any movement for the Negro’s freedom that overlooks this necessity is only waiting to be buried. As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery. No Lincolnian Emancipation Proclamation, no Johnsonian civil rights bill can totally bring this kind of freedom. The Negro will only be free when he reaches down to the inner depths of his own being and signs with the pen and ink of assertive manhood his own emancipation proclamation. And with a spirit straining toward true self-esteem, the Negro must boldly throw off the manacles of self-abnegation and say to himself and to the world, “I am somebody. I am a person. I am a man with dignity and honor. I have a rich and noble history, however painful and exploited that history has been. Yes, I was a slave through my foreparents, and now I’m not ashamed of that. I’m ashamed of the people who were so sinful to make me a slave.” Yes, yes, we must stand up and say, “I’m black, but I’m black and beautiful.” This, this self-affirmation is the black man’s need, made compelling by the white man’s crimes against him.

Does this sound like a man who would utter the mealy mouthed nonsense coming from Sowell, (Shelby) Steele, Walter Williams, Ben Carson, Tim Scott, Carol Swain, Candace Owens, Brandon Tatum, Larry Elder or any other black person on the right?

No.

 

[Auld Phart]

Still putting words in the Doctors mouth, I see.

when are you going to stop paraphrasing him?

 

[IM2]

Still putting words in the Doctors mouth, I see.

when are you going to stop paraphrasing him?

I used his own words. Words you apparently have never read.

 

[Auld Phart]

I used his own words. Words you apparently have never read.

I did a search on what you 'claim' are his own words.

nothing about 'white' racism in the results.

 

[IM2]

Seems like some of us missed things King said. So I am going to start with parts of the I Have a Dream Speech some of you apparently forgot existed..

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.
(He begins to call out and condemn white America)

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

​

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
(When King said this, he did not mean that whites were also denied justice, because whites already were getting justice)

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
(This was a warning to white America letting them know that business as usual would not continue without a fight)

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, when will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only.

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

(Here again, King tells white America that blacks will not be satisfied until we get complete justtice and that has not yet come as of this day in the year of our lord 2024 A.D.

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
(He called specifically called out whites to stop racism beginning here.)

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
(Notice that in every parragraph he is pointing out white racism. It is whites who were judging blacks by our skin color, that's what King wanted to end. It hasn't and the very white people in this forum who do it are the first to pull out one sentence in all the words he spoke.)

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
(These are the times MAGA folks apparently want to go back to. And as they misquote King, they fail to see that King said that America had not reached greatness.)

 

[BackAgain]

Keep his name outta your mouth.

 

[Auld Phart]

Seems like some of us missed things King said. So I am going to start with parts of the I Have a Dream Speech some of you apparently forgot existed..

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.
(He begins to call out and condemn white America)

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

​

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
(When King said this, he did not mean that whites were also denied justice, because whites already were getting justice)

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
(This was a warning to white America letting them know that business as usual would not continue without a fight)

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, when will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only.

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

(Here again, King tells white America that blacks will not be satisfied until we get complete justtice and that has not yet come as of this day in the year of our lord 2024 A.D.

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
(He called specifically called out whites to stop racism beginning here.)

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
(Notice that in every parragraph he is pointing out white racism. It is whites who were judging blacks by our skin color, that's what King wanted to end. It hasn't and the very white people in this forum who do it are the first to pull out one sentence in all the words he spoke.)

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
(These are the times MAGA folks apparently want to go back to. And as they misquote King, they fail to see that King said that America had not reached greatness.)

despite your interjections, there is no comment 'by King' about 'white racism'.

Just your personal opinion of what he said.

You're misquoting him as much as any of the 'white racists' on this board.

 

[BackAgain]

America wasn’t and isn’t colorblind, either.

But. That’s the dream.

 

[BackAgain]

America wasn’t and isn’t colorblind, either.

But. That’s the dream.

No. It really is the dream.

Not sure why unky would disagree.