Historians Fear MLK's Legacy Being Lost: Important to remember how disliked he was when he died

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/AP: Historians Fear MLK's Legacy Being Lost
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 21, 2008
Filed at 9:23 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Nearly 40 years after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., some say his legacy is being frozen in a moment in time that ignores the full complexity of the man and his message.

''Everyone knows -- even the smallest kid knows about Martin Luther King -- can say his most famous moment was that 'I have a dream' speech,'' said Henry Louis Taylor Jr., professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo. ''No one can go further than one sentence. All we know is that this guy had a dream. We don't know what that dream was.''

King was working on anti-poverty and anti-war issues at the time of his death. He had spoken out against the Vietnam War and was in Memphis when he was killed in April 1968 in support of striking sanitation workers. King had come a long way from the crowds who cheered him at the 1963 March on Washington, when he was introduced as ''the moral leader of our nation'' -- and when he pronounced ''I have a dream'' on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

By taking on issues outside segregation, he had lost the support of many newspapers and magazines, and his relationship with the White House had suffered, said Harvard Sitkoff, a professor of history at the University of New Hampshire who has written a recently published book on King. ''He was considered by many to be a pariah,'' Sitkoff said. But he took on issues of poverty and militarism because he considered them vital ''to make equality something real and not just racial brotherhood but equality in fact,'' Sitkoff said....

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(Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University) believes it's important for Americans in 2008 to remember how disliked King was before his death in April 1968. ''If we forget that, then it seems like the only people we can get behind must be popular,'' Harris-Lacewell said. ''Following King meant following the unpopular road, not the popular one.''...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-MLK-Legacy.html

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

1. He was disliked by those who operated as barriers to equality, democracy, opportunity.

Perhaps, what's more important is WHO disliked him and WHY.

[bigtree]

2. he sacrificed his popularity with the 'mainstream'

for what he believed in. My family never lost interest or faith in him. He was very much loved in my house throughout.

But, I get the point. Popularity is not always indicative of the correctness of your stand.

[murielm99]

3. There was also a rift in his community over the issue

of black power.

Some younger African Americans thought he should be embracing more fully the militant youth who were coming up in his footsteps.

I can remember younger black people saying this before his death. And I seem to recall that within his organization, Jesse Jackson was getting some criticism for being too close to the black power leaders.

Of course all black people do not think alike. And of course any disagreement, large or small, will be held up to scrutiny. This is being done to today's Democrats, too. It was used to divide the civil rights movement, and it is used to divide us.

If he were alive today, the MSM would never say his name without prefacing it with the word "controversial." That is only one of the ways they convey their disdain.

I do remember, though. I remember the horrible things said by many of the whites who were a bit older than me. And look at how his holiday is disregarded in so many parts of the country.

Does anyone else remember how Reagan resisted the whole idea of a holiday honoring MLK? He remained convinced that King was a communist, or a communist dupe. St. Ronnie was the dupe.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. I hadn't thought in a long time about Reagan's opposing the holiday.

Also, thanks for the reminder that King was, in fact, under pressure from two sides -- including, as you, say the "black power" side.

And I'm afraid you're right about the press -- a very interesting point. I shudder to think how they would cover, and characterize, him now.