White People Are Forever Banned From MLK
Look, Martin Luther King, Jr was an amazing man and leader. Sure, he had his flaws, and no, not everyone agreed with him or his methods, but he was a leader with a vision and he created movements for change. However, what we shan’t be doing, is whitesplaining my Martin Luther King Jr. He was not here for y’all white folks, he was not your hero.
White people love to pull the same, and the only three MLK quotes they know, out of their ass to try and silence black people or make themselves feel better about their whiteness, and I am tired.
If white people bothered to actually read MLK’s work beyond “I Have a Dream” you would know that MLK was not out here advocating to hold hands with white people and sing” Kumbaya”. In fact, if you bothered to even read the very beginning of that same speech y’all love to quote, he STARTS with condemning white bullshit. MLK was never an advocate for being passive to racism. I don’t know where or how white people got that narrative.
“Judge not by the color of skin but by content of character”
That’s cute, but let’s address —
Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.
— Where Do We Go from Here
“We must live together as brothers”
Yes, let’s do so, but riddle me this —
Why is equality to assiduously avoided? Why does white America delude itself, and how does it rationalize the evil it retains? The majority of white Americans consider themselves sincerely committed to justice for the Negro. They believe that American society is essentially hospitable to fair play and to steady growth toward a middle-class Utopia embodying racial harmony. But unfortunately this is a fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity.
-Where Do We Go From Here
But wait, let’s not forget white people’s all time favorite — “Don’t fight hate with hate”
I’ll see your out of context quote, and raise you this:
First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;” who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. -Letter from Birmingham Jail
There are endless more quotes and ideas like these. Just because you decided to pick one sentence and out of a 6 page speech and use it out of context doesn’t change the fact that MLK wasn’t here for y ‘all. Also, need I remind you that he isn’t currently here because Y’ALL literally murdered him. So don’t sit over here, misquoting this man about peace and love when y‘all literally killed him for doing that. My Martin Luther King Jr., was not here for white people. Keep his name out your thin lipped mouth. Y’all banned forever.
Originally published on www.onlyblackgirl.com
