While he lived, Dr. King was the target of almost unimaginable hatred and condemnation. It rained down on him from the streets of Southern towns and the corridors of FBI headquarters, from the boardrooms of bus companies and the booths of Boston diners.
Dr. King preached communication, but experienced excommunication -- from that cozy world of "insiders" who may argue but will never risk their lives or careers for higher ideals.
Would Dr. King have supported the NFL protesters and Black Lives Matter? It's hard to imagine otherwise. Their actions make some people uncomfortable, but he wouldn't have been bothered by that. Protests, he wrote, "merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive."
The attacks on BLM protesters and the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick would feel very familiar to Dr. King and his associates. It's impossible to believe he would not see their struggle as his own.
As for their motivations, Dr. King said this in his "I Have a Dream" speech: "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."
The Struggle for Economic Justice"Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God's children." -- Negro American Labor Council, 1961
King's spirit also lives on in the movement for economic justice.
A 2014 Princeton study which has since been validated confirms that the United States has become an oligarchy, for all intents and purposes. Multinational corporations are dictating the rules of employment and trade. The ultra-rich accumulate more and more of our national wealth and income, as the middle class dies and 40 million Americans -- including one out of every five children -- lives in poverty.
Corporations seek to inoculate themselves from being held accountable by promoting what they call "corporate social responsibility." A few people may be helped, but these programs are little more than coins flung at beggars.
Dr. King would probably not be impressed. He would probably see more of himself in the work of groups like FED UP who are fighting for economic justice.
Expanding Access to HealthDr. King also told the Medical Committee for Human Rights in 1966, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
The provenance of this quote was questioned for years, until attorney and editor Amanda Moore tracked it down and confirmed it. Dr. King said it less than a year after Medicare was passed into law.
Given what we know of his values, is it unreasonable to believe that Dr. King would stand with those groups that are fighting to ensure that Medicare's protections are available to every American? And can there be any doubt that he would be committed to expanding Social Security, ensuring decent vacation and family leave benefits for all workers, and taking other steps to expand the social safety net?
The Fight for Workers' Rights"The two most dynamic and cohesive liberal forces in the country are the labor movement and the Negro freedom movement. Together we can be architects of democracy." -- Address to the Fourth Constitutional Convention of the AFL-CIO, August 1961
Dr. King's spirit lives on in the most progressive and transformative elements of the labor movement.
He understood that inequality, "the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth," could not be defeated without organized labor. Dr. King didn't hesitate to challenge the labor movement when unions practiced racial discrimination. But he was a fierce advocate for labor rights. He was in Memphis on behalf of striking sanitation workers, in fact, on that terrible night when bullets took his life.
Dr. King understood that the fight for civil rights was closely connected with the fight for workers' rights. "Negroes in the United States read this history of labor and find that it mirrors their own experience," he told the AFL-CIO. "We are confronted by powerful forces, telling us to rely on the goodwill and understanding of those who profit by exploiting us."
An End to Militarism"We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation, for those it calls 'enemy,' for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers." -- Beyond Vietnam, 1967
His spirit lives in the groups fighting to end our country's campaign of permanent war, and in the brave men and women who work to end the illegal and immoral practices of our military and intelligence services.
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