Departments

;

Martin Luther King

  • SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
    5/12/2023

    MLK: Christian, Radical

    by Jonathan Eig

    Veneration has hollowed out Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy, and obscured the way that his political leadership always aimed at radical transformation of American society, argues the author of an acclaimed new biography. 

  • SOURCE: Washington Post
    5/10/2023

    Alex Haley Fabricated Quotes Portraying MLK as Implacable Critic of Malcolm X, Biographer Finds

    by Gillian Brockell

    Jonathan Eig tracked down a secretary's transcript of writer Alex Haley's interview with Martin Luther King and found that Haley seriously misrepresented King's response to Malcolm's militant approach to the Black freedom struggle, contributing to longstanding misunderstanding of King's views and relationship to other political factions. 

  • SOURCE: NPR
    1/18/2023

    Maine Radio Station Apologies for Distorted Edit of King Speech

    The paper had for years run an abridged version of 1963 speech to the March on Washington—which excluded King's discussions of systemic racism and race-targeted remedies for discrimination—but faced intense criticism this year from readers concerned with the politicization of history. 

  • SOURCE: Black Perspectives
    4/4/2022

    The Radical MLK and a Usable Past

    by Robert Greene II

    "Above all, King’s “usable past” was part of a long tradition of Black Americans claiming a place for themselves in the larger tapestry of American history and memory."

  • SOURCE: Religion Dispatches
    4/4/2022

    Honoring Dr. King's Other, More Challenging Dream, 55 Years Later

    King's famous Riverside Church speech on April 4, 1967 marked the leader's decisive opposition to the war in Vietnam and reflected his moral clarity and willingness to take unpopular positions in the pursuit of justice by calling out racism, capitalism and militarism as three intertwined evils. 

  • SOURCE: TomDispatch
    4/4/2021

    “The Greatest Purveyor of Violence in the World”

    by Liz Theoharis

    Martin Luther King's 1967 Riverside Church address pointed out that the cause nonviolent civil rights struggle required him to challenge the US government to end militarism. Today, the pandemic shows that an ethos of nonviolence must include an active approach to end suffering through global cooperation. 

  • 2/14/2021

    King’s Final Book: Both Political Roadmap and Passionate Sermon

    by Fred Zilian

    As Black History Month unfolds amid an atmosphere of crisis and division like that which prevailed in 1968, it's worth revisiting Martin Luther King's publication that year of "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community" – a call for reordering national priorities toward justice through politics and for renewed spiritual and ethical dedication to shared humanity.

  • SOURCE: TomDispatch
    2/11/2021

    Beyond Donald Trump: When Poisons Curdle

    by Andrew Bacevich

    The writer regrets not absorbing the message of MLK's prophetic "Beyond Vietnam" sermon when it was delivered in 1967. But the years since have shown he wasn't alone, and the nation's failure to reflect on the interconnection of racism, materialism and militarism accounts for the dire state of affairs reflected in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.