James Forman (second from left)
Since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, the narrative of his activism has been whitewashed to be used in ways to control and pacify current-day Black activists. Conservatives have turned the man’s legacy into a prop for respectability politics, and they have essentially rewritten his history to push conservative ideals on Black people. Most people don’t know that conservatives were against acknowledging MLK’s birthday as a holiday.
Back in 1979, Coretta Scott King pushed for legislation that would make the holiday a reality, but the bill was defeated in the House by just five votes even with President Jimmie Carter’s support for the holiday. According to TIME Magazine, “Coretta continued her fight for approval of a national holiday, testifying before Congress several more times and mobilizing governors, mayors and city council members across the nation to make the passage of a King-holiday bill part of their agenda.”
Between 1980 and 1983, there was a fight in congress. Republican Senators John P. East and Jesse Helms of North Carolina did not support a King holiday, and Helms did not believe that King was worthy of “the same level as the father of our country and above the many other Americans whose achievements approach that of Washington’s.”
The irony of this is that Helms compared King, a civil rights activist, to a slave-owning planter. The two men led the charge in destroying King’s character. They associated him with communists and pushed allegations of sexual relationships with other women. Twitter users both Black and white are setting the record straight.
Learning a lot from the #ReclaimMLK tag. How many young leaders are being pressed down today? pic.twitter.com/2jxppt2o8k
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 18, 2016
For decades elected officials have divested money out of communities, closed our schools and over policed our streets. #reclaimMLK
— OBS_StL (@OBS_STL) January 18, 2016
Read him, not just about him. The real MLK is a far greater force for good than the white washed one #ReclaimMLK pic.twitter.com/mM7DKMZuQT
— Sam White (@samwhiteout) January 18, 2016
They forget MLK was shot in the face for being peaceful & speaking about no longer investing in white businesses #ReclaimMLK
— #KIDDKASH💰 (@KIDD__KASH) January 18, 2016
The real MLK (not media spliced) called for a radical redistribution of economic and political power https://t.co/AO8qfpmAse #ReclaimMLK
— Bougie Black Girl (@BougieBlackGurl) January 18, 2016
People like when MLK said "content of character" but forgot when he said "One hundred years later, the Negro still is not free" #ReclaimMLK
— Bougie Black Girl (@BougieBlackGurl) January 18, 2016
#ReclaimMLK – "A riot is the language of the unheard." #MLKDay2016 pic.twitter.com/csGBqplpKT
— Preston “Still A Side Bunk” Mitchum (@PrestonMitchum) January 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/SankofaBrown/status/688987123081457664
#ReclaimMLK Remember Ella Baker on MLK Day: "King did not make the movement, the movement made King." @BYP_100 @BLMLA
— Barbara Ransby (@BarbaraRansby) January 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/_CodyKeith_/status/688056451151998976
MLK had radical strategies for economic justice that we can channel in our work today to #BuildBlackFutures ! #ReclaimMLK
— tasha (@wowtashawow) January 15, 2016
That he kept an arsenal of weapons at home. https://t.co/OBKlg3ZESV
— The G is for George Jackson (@thoughtsplural) January 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/mislayla/status/689164665771786240
In 1958, a woman with a mental disorder stabbed MLK while he signed copies of his book, nearly killing him. #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/VYSyvp95pk
— zellie (@zellieimani) January 18, 2016
Many took the opportunity to take to the streets and spread the message publicly. In fact, groups nationwide began to hold marches as early as Friday.
Shout out to all the workers shutting down airports today! #ReclaimMLK
— BlackOUT Collective (@BlkDirectAction) January 18, 2016
#ReclaimMLK led by #BYP100NOLA spreading the message of a radical MLK. Power, not permission!… https://t.co/xFwphe0ETl
— BYP100 (@byp100) January 18, 2016
BYP100 Chapters in NOLA, DC and Detroit hitting the streets again today. Follow #ReclaimMLK and #BuildBlackFutures
— Charlene A. Carruthers (@CharleneCac) January 18, 2016
