Dept. of Fight and Flight

[kaffy_r]

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

I went looking for an image of Dr. King to share today, one that might comfort me, and allow me to remember a true, tough, complicated, radical American hero. 

The image I chose was of the King memorial in downtown Washington, D.C. 



Look at him. He isn't calm. He isn't accomodating. He isn't kumbayah in the least. 

He is angry. He's holding back that anger, employing all the patience he can. He's angry at us. He's angry at me. 

He has every right to be angry. And he will not be moved. 

This is the man who worked tirelessly for civil and human rights, despite being cursed at, being shot at, being jailed, having his home bombed, having his country call him an outside agitator because he would not stay silent about American racism, American violence. 

This is the man who angered those in power when he pivoted from civil rights as he sought to bring working class whites and blacks together for economic justice; when he spoke out against the Vietnam war; when he turned from having a dream to knowing how that dream might end.

He could be gentle, but that wasn't all he was. If it had been all he was, he would have been smothered and quickly dismissed. He knew what he risked by being stubborn, by being persistent, by staying angry at the wrongs of this country. He knew what he risked by being focused on working to eradicate those wrongs. Like John Lewis, he understood the need for getting into good trouble. 

Not unlike Malcolm X, really.

That's why so many people still hate him. Those who don't hate him, and even those who idolize a sanitized version of him, are made uncomfortable by him and by the truths he preached. 

Remember this man - the angry, determined, stubborn, righteous man. And let's all promise to do better. 

Comments

[beccadg]

I have never forgotten that before the 1996 Atlanta Olympics there was writer for TIME Magazine (though these day I couldn't tell you exactly who without a lot of archival digging) who did a whole article wondering how you reconcile Rhett Butler's "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn," with that man's "I have a dream," and thinking what a dumbass they were for not knowing the answer. I was all of 21, and absolutely certain that the way you reconciled them was in Gone With the Wind. It's Scarlett's assertion that "Tomorrow is another day." That's the shared stubbornness and determination. ;-)

[kaffy_r]

It took me a while to grasp what you meant, largely because my brain isn't working as well as I'd like it these days, but once I did (honestly, I'm slow as molasses), I understood what you're saying. I think I agree.

[beccadg]

Sorry your brain isn't working as well as you'd like these days. I understand. If mine were working better, it might not have taken you as much time to grasp what I meant. He knew the fight would be long as well as hard. It's there whether you listen to the "one day" in his "I Have a Dream" speech, or the "long" in his words about "The arc of the moral universe."

[cmcmck]

I'd never seen an image of this memorial.

Impressive!

[kaffy_r]

It truly is!

If you're interested, here's some information from the U.S. National Park Service, and more from the city of Washington, D.C.

[elisi]

Good post.

[kaffy_r]

Thanks. It was far better to think of this man than to think of That Man.

[lokifan]

What an amazing piece of art that memorial is! And a good post <3

[kaffy_r]

Thanks; the art really captures the essence of the man, doesn't it!