Anyhoo.
Y'all know how I feel about the version of King this country pimps as the one we on which we should fashion ourselves. The dreamer. The Peacemaker. The non-threatening Black person. The Black person who will allow you to pummel them while he/she smiles through the veil of blood running down his/her face. As I've said Dr. King was FAR from being that type of Black man by the time a bullet ended his life. By the time he was cut down, he was very much on the same page as Malcolm X. The two had come to an understanding that they were marked men because both realized that freedom wasn't free. That those in charge of one's freedom weren't going to give up that privilege, and that to gain one's freedom, a tussle was going to have to ensue. And for that they were assassinated. End of story. Go read King's last, powerful speech, "The Mountaintop." He knew he was marked for death. You can hear it in his words.
The revolution. That glorious revolution that many had hoped he and Malcolm would have fueled together with possibly a Fred Hampton? Not to be. And today there is no revolution. The powers-that-be have seen to it that the majority of Black folks are content with their cellphones and SnapChat and Facebook Live and WiFi and Netflix and Popeye's spicy chicken sammiches and fresh, hot Krispy Kremes. Yes, a lot of us have been lulled into what I call a seductive inefficiency - Not enough of what we need, but a lot of what we want. No. There will be no revolution until we wake up and put the "beguilements" in their place.
Until then Dr. King's legacy will continue to be distorted and used as a cudgel to whip us into shape while we smile..
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