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[Chie Satonaka]

Now the martyrdom, on que.

No good faith was involved.

Every time.

I think we actually did this same thing in another thread. The more things change...

 

[LionPride]

It's also kinda telling that MLK is the only black pokemon that anybody seems to be able to name. Him and Jesse Jackson are the black monolith to 95% of people trying to discuss issues of race.

Real talk, name the guy in my avatar without googling him.

Holy shit never heard of this guy, interesting story

 

[ant_]

I agree with you, to an extent. I think its equally misguided when individuals use quotes from MLK (specifically the ones you mentioned) to justify violence. His views on violence are complex and nuanced; and reducing them to a "for" or "against" is misguided and doesn't do the mans' life work justice.

 

[jacob armitage]

Is this faux outrage?

I respect the information posted, but disagree with your premise.

There has been a ton of people misrepresentating MLK on the internet whenever discussing minority rights and protests.

This is a much needed discussion.

 

[Professor Beef]

tsk tsk...i have to say that MLK Jr certainly would have never made this thread

now let me go fuck off somewhere and continue to ask the same damn questions in every race-related thread

 

[JonnyDBrit]

At the end of the day, Dr king was just one man in the never ending civil movement , a movement drenched in violence and injustice, with people Stokely Carmichael, Ida B. Wells, and Malcolm X and the man and women who are not remember by time. Please remember the man, not the version you learn in school.
And please stop Whitewashing MLK and the Civil rights movement.

This point is particularly salient. The history of the Civil Rights Movement in the US is long, and multi-faceted, starting before Du Bois and going on well after MLK, and did not always agree on what it wanted or how to achieve it. Ironically, I did in fact learn a fair bit of that from school, though this was in GCSEs and A-Levels, and I think the head of the department had a fondness for the subject.

 

[Sweeney Tom]

Should have been the first post instead of the trash we got

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Thank you for making this thread, it was sorely needed. I hate when people use MLK as their shield when if he was alive today, they would hate him!

 

[dohdough]

We have a pretty good idea of how most people would view MLK if he were alive today. You only have to look at how Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are treated.

 

[theignoramus]

They whitewash King, Frederick Douglass, and even Muhammad Ali in death. I wouldnt worry about it, the dominant society will always try to water down the legacy of a powerful voice of resistance and distort their memory and legacy.

Just ensure you and those you associate with know the truth of the matter and pass that knowledge down to your kids and grandkids.

 

[LordKasual]

this isn't whitewashing

it's just them twisting his existence to benefit their own narrative

they're quite good at it too

 

[Caelus]

this isn't whitewashing

it's just them twisting his existence to benefit their own narrative

they're quite good at it too

I'd call it whitewashing - sanitizing his life's work to make it more comfortable for white America to stomach.

 

[LQX]

But what is there to gain from pushing this view of MLK?

 

[Professor Beef]

But what is there to gain from pushing this view of MLK?

It gets black people to "hush up and know their place." MLK Jr wouldn't resort to violence or disrupting things, so why are y'all doing it?

You know, horseshit.

If people know the REAL history behind the man, then hopefully they'll realize what idiots they're being. That's a longshot though.

 

[Lois_Lane]

But what is there to gain from pushing this view of MLK?

Maybe people will stop acting a fool when BLM struts its stuff. Then maybe also trump might find Jesus. Nothing illegal about wishing for unicorns.

 

[Sweeney Tom]

But what is there to gain from pushing this view of MLK?

The mentality is "if MLK can be peaceful why can't you?"

The obvious thing it ignores is MLK or Malcolm X, peaceful or violent, calm or antagonistic, both got shot in the head by white people in the end. Differences didn't matter.

 

[Heroman]

But what is there to gain from pushing this view of MLK?

Because this is the way MlK would have wanted to be view, not this romanticize version.

 

[foxuzamaki]

This thread felt so needed i felt catharthic finally seeing it

 

[ahoyhoy]

Just made these. Hopefully they get some use

 

[AuthenticM]

Real talk, name the guy in my avatar without googling him.

oh shit, you finally changed your terrible avatar. This one's much better.

 

[Haly]

MLK-namedropping is now a corollary to Godwin's law that applies exclusively to civil rights discussion.

 

[Frozenprince]

Just made these. Hopefully they get some use

Aaaaaaaand saved

 

[Malyse]

You should have dropped this in the BHM thread, friend.

 

[commedieu]

 

[televator]

Are you sure? Respected African American Historian Bill O'Rielly says otherwise.

In bizarro 'Merica, MLK would be a fine upstanding Fox News contributor who could set all the modern upity black today straight and make white people feel better about themselves.

 

[LionPride]

This is like asking Ja Rule for his opinion

 

[Sweeney Tom]

It's also kinda telling that MLK is the only black pokemon that anybody seems to be able to name. Him and Jesse Jackson are the black monolith to 95% of people trying to discuss issues of race.

Real talk, name the guy in my avatar without googling him.

Love your new av btw

 

[Einchy]

I haven't. How many examples are there of this happening?

Considering I'm a supporter of BLM and the use of violence if necessary as a last resort, perhaps I'm out of touch with these tactics as I have no exposure to it.

EDIT: Of course Fox News and Bill O'Reilly...

It's a very common talking point, I mean, it's so common that Boondocks gif exists.

 

[commedieu]

You should have dropped this in the BHM thread, friend.

It will serve as a nice link to everyone that keeps up with this shit. Keep thread alive!

This is like asking Ja Rule for his opinion

Or worse.

Rob schnieder.

 

[Heroman]

Just made these. Hopefully they get some use

Amazing

 

[Angelus Errare]

But what is there to gain from pushing this view of MLK?

Because he deserves to be remembered for who he was, not what white people wanted him to be.

 

[Angelus Errare]

MLK-namedropping is now a corollary to Godwin's law that applies exclusively to civil rights discussion.

I mean honestly the longer any discussion goes on the closer it draws to mentioning black people/slavery, and by proxy MLK.

 

[siddx]

Always felt like a guilty white America thrust him on their shoulders post civil rights movement in order to say "see we learned, we support the struggle!" While trying to bleach out all his rough edges to makes him more palatable to your average white Christian american.

 

[Niftyartwork]

Could anyone suggest a good book on Dr MLKs life and his work for me please?

 

[Retromelon]

It's also kinda telling that MLK is the only black pokemon that anybody seems to be able to name. Him and Jesse Jackson are the black monolith to 95% of people trying to discuss issues of race.

Real talk, name the guy in my avatar without googling him.

mlk? I don't have that one lemme check the pokedex

This is like asking Ja Rule for his opinion

This is like asking ja rule for advice on how to send humans to mars and tweeting it to NASA

 

[mozfan12]

This whitewashing also happened with Muhommad Ali, Malcom X, and almost any other activist. Your ass would be sure that the Orange cunt would have spoken against Martin Luther King Jr if he were alive today.

 

[SKINNER!]

Remember that one time the racist Facebook page Britain First posted a Brother Malcolm quote post even though they despise Muslims?

 

[Condom]

Lenin wrote about this before MLK was even born.
It is the ruling classes shaping an image that is best for their own interest.

During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the “consolation” of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it.

 

[Toa TAK]

This thread felt so needed i felt catharthic finally seeing it

I feel you. Thanks for making this thread, OP. It really is needed.

 

[fabricated backlash]

Like, people HATED MLK Jr. but he dies and suddenly people wanna act as if he was beloved. Same shit happened with Ali, and will happen with any civil rights activist who is still alive

A dead man tells no tales.

It's easier to appropriate a dead Person. Careful though, this goes for everyone using a dead persons memory.

 

[Amalthea]

Rob Schneider is a human-shaped piece of shit.

"Winning" civil rights my ass.

 

[excelsiorlef]

this isn't whitewashing

it's just them twisting his existence to benefit their own narrative

they're quite good at it too

They use MLK to say BLM shouldn't block traffic because MLK would never do that, even though he did, a lot. Something that has been said here by more than one person


It is sanitization. It is making MLK out to be someone who didn't disrupt, disturb or turn upside down the social order and doing so to shame current BLM activists for also doing all those things.

 

[Pusherman]

People often forget how important the threat of genuine riots were to making civil rights a priority. And MLK didn't shy away from that threat either, he saw it as the logical outcome of an oppressed minority being ignored.

It's also annoying how his later strong anti-war stance and socialism often get ignored.

 

[Aztechnology]

People often forget how important the threat of genuine riots were to making civil rights a priority. And MLK didn't shy away from that threat either, he saw it as the logical outcome of an oppressed minority being ignored.

It's also annoying how his later strong anti-war stance and socialism often get ignored.

I never knew he was a proponent of socialism. (Presumably democratic socialist ideals?) makes sense in retrospect though (in a good way).

 

[LookAtMeGo]

The Exploitation Of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy By White Supremacy

like so many brothers and sisters before and since, his beautiful and rich mahogany tones have been flattened to the matte black of the history books that paint him as the friend of well-meaning whites and the moral opposition of angry blacks.

A good read.

 

[archreaper93]

Real talk, name the guy in my avatar without googling him.

I'll admit I have no idea who this is. Who is he?

 

[Nightbird]

OP is right and racists think MLK is this picture perfect "one of the good ones" when in reality he'd be an advocate for black lives matter in today's world

you can't even imagine how many people i've seen argue that King would denounce BLM for what they do.

 

[FyreWulff]

But what is there to gain from pushing this view of MLK?

Because they're trying to sanitize and nerf MLK's movement to try and bury it.

The movement that had guns, firebombs, hoses and dogs turned on them.

King got assassinated over wanting equality.

People try to use MLK to justify being able to drive their Subaru down a road unimpeded.

 

[HerbertBirdsfoot]

Yesssss. I'm so tired of people using MLK's revised history to stifle people of color.

I just read Parting the Waters, first book of three about Dr. King and the movement. Very highly recommend and I will read the rest. I feel like I understand more about the era now, at least a little.

I think one of the best ways to be ready to push back on this kind of bullshit is to learn more about the history.

 

[Pandy]

Serious question: do people get MLK confused with Ghandi, or something?