Chapter I: "Where Are We?" (pp. 1-22);
Chapter II: "Black Power" (pp. 23-69);
Chapter III: "Racism and the White Backlash" (pp. 71-107);
Chapter IV: "The Dilemma of Negro Americans" (pp. 109-142);
Chapter V: "Where We Are Going" (pp. 143-175);
Chapter VI: "The World House" (pp. 177-202).
In King's Chapter III: "Racism and White Backlash," he diagnoses Trump and his white MAGA supporters:
"The prescription for the cure rests with the accurate diagnosis of the disease. A people who began a national life inspired by a vision of a society of brotherhood can redeem itself. But redemption can come only through a humble acknowledgment of guilt and honest knowledge of self [two qualities that Trump does not have; but what about his white MAGA supporters?].
"Jesus once told a parable of a young man who left home and wandered into a far country, where he sought life in adventure after adventure. But he found only frustration and bewilderment. The farther he moved from his father's house, the closer he came to the house of despairs [and to "deaths of despair"?]. After the boy had wasted all, a famine developed in the land, and he ended up seeking food in a pig's trough. But the story does not end here. In a state of disillusionment, frustration, and homesickness, the boy 'came to himself' and said, 'I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heave, and before thee.' The prodigal son was not himself when he left his father's house or when he dreamed that pleasure was the end of life. Only when he made up his mind to go home and be a son again did he come to himself. The boy returned home to find a loving father waiting with outstretched arms and a heart filled with joy.
"This is an analogy to what white America confronts today [in 1967 - and now in 2023?]. Like all human analogies, it is imperfect, but it does suggest some parallels worth considering. America has strayed to the far country of racism. The home that all too many Americans left was solidly structured idealistically. Its pillars were soundly grounded in the insights of our Judeo-Christian heritage: all men [and women] are made in the image of God; all men [and women] are brothers [and sisters]; all men [and women] are created equal; every man [and woman] is heir to a legacy of dignity and worth; every man [and woman] has rights that are neither conferred by nor derived from the state, they are God-given. What a marvelous foundation for any home! What a glorious place to inhabit! But America strayed away; and this excursion has brought only confusion and bewilderment. It has left hearts aching with guilt and minds distorted with irrationality. It has driven wisdom from the throne. This long and callous sojourn in the far country of racism has brought a moral and spiritual famine to the nation.
"But it is not too late to return home. If America would come to herself and return to her true home, 'one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,' she would give the democratic creed a new authentic ring, enkindle the imagination of [hu]mankind and fire the souls of men [and women]. If she fails, she will be victimized with the ultimate social psychosis that can lead only to national suicide" (pp. 88-89; italics in King's text).
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