Picking a Favorite Line

[LOIE]

I have heard and read many times that white folks are quoting a line from MLK's I Have a Dream speech. They are claiming that because of what he said, they should not now be judged by the color of their skin. But when I went back and read the entire speech, the whole thing has an entirely different purpose than they are giving it. Here is a portion I don't think most white people want to think about:

"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. 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 quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."

Here's the one line that folks take out of context and use for their own purposes: "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."

Here's my take on it. He was saying that his children, who were being judged by the color of their skin, should be judged instead by the content of their character. It's obvious which group of people were doing the judging. He was looking forward to a day when they would realize how wrong they were to judge his children so.

In another part he says this because he was truthful:
"The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom."

 

[night_son]

I have heard and read many times that white folks are quoting a line from MLK's I Have a Dream speech. They are claiming that because of what he said, they should not now be judged by the color of their skin. But when I went back and read the entire speech, the whole thing has an entirely different purpose than they are giving it. Here is a portion I don't think most white people want to think about:

"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. 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 quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."

Here's the one line that folks take out of context and use for their own purposes: "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."

Here's my take on it. He was saying that his children, who were being judged by the color of their skin, should be judged instead by the content of their character. It's obvious which group of people were doing the judging. He was looking forward to a day when they would realize how wrong they were to judge his children so.

In another part he says this because he was truthful:
"The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom."

In ancient times lawyers were as susceptible to the chopping off of hands as was the average slave. Thus, to the victor truly went the spoils and no legal due process could save the vanquished. Hence the weight and truth of that old, old battle cry: woe unto the conquered. Right or wrong in the minds of fat, dilettante philosophers who spent centuries arguing the morality of the human condition, might truly does make right. To the victors go the spoils, remember?

While enslaving any fellow human being is not a very kind thing to do, men have been doing it regardless since time immemorial. The tribes of Africa were conquered or obliterated by and large by technologically superior and supremely more aggressive peoples, the Europeans. Had those same primitive tribes developed advanced military and scientific capability ahead of the Europeans, then that historical shoe might have been on the other foot.

When our Founding Fathers first composed our Constitution and Bill of Rights, African slaves living in North America represented a conquered people—woe unto the conquered. At the founding of most civilizations in human history, the vanquished were not elevated to or included as citizens, nor bestowed equal rights as such. This has been the HUMAN norm for millennia.

Frankly, Dr. King should have been very thankful for the modern lawyers and the courts of his time. Without them, and in much earlier civilizations, the conquered and vanquished risked their tongues simply by flapping them.

As above, so below. Humanity? Humanity never changes.

 

[JGalt]

My favorite MLK lines are "I'm not a Negro tonight!" and "I'm fucking for God!"

Moreover--Please Stop The MLK Worship

 

[1srelluc]

My favorite MLK lines are "I'm not a Negro tonight!" and "I'm fucking for God!"

Moreover--Please Stop The MLK Worship

I prefer him in carbonite.

 

[LOIE]

In ancient times lawyers were as susceptible to the chopping off of hands as was the average slave. Thus, to the victor truly went the spoils and no legal due process could save the vanquished. Hence the weight and truth of that old, old battle cry: woe unto the conquered. Right or wrong in the minds of fat, dilettante philosophers who spent centuries arguing the morality of the human condition, might truly does make right. To the victors go the spoils, remember?

While enslaving any fellow human being is not a very kind thing to do, men have been doing it regardless since time immemorial. The tribes of Africa were conquered or obliterated by and large by technologically superior and supremely more aggressive peoples, the Europeans. Had those same primitive tribes developed advanced military and scientific capability ahead of the Europeans, then that historical shoe might have been on the other foot.

When our Founding Fathers first composed our Constitution and Bill of Rights, African slaves living in North America represented a conquered people—woe unto the conquered. At the founding of most civilizations in human history, the vanquished were not elevated to or included as citizens, nor bestowed equal rights as such. This has been the HUMAN norm for millennia.

Frankly, Dr. King should have been very thankful for the modern lawyers and the courts of his time. Without them, and in much earlier civilizations, the conquered and vanquished risked their tongues simply by flapping them.

As above, so below. Humanity? Humanity never changes.

I had to give all of this a lot of thought before responding. I guess I have to wonder, why did the founders of this country feel compelled to add the words, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness….”

If they truly believed that the conquered people among them were not created equal, why did they not say so in writing? All of the other civilizations you speak of - did they have a constitution or a bill of rights?

Putting those words on paper like our framers did set them apart and made the claim that their country would be different in that they stated all men were created equal. Later, people decided they should be held to account and made to live up to their own words.

For me, I continue to believe that "the only way for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing." And yes, what has been done, I believe is truly evil. Just because humanity, in your words, never changes, does not mean that I should give up the fight I and many others still believe is winnable.