The MLK legacy, 49 years later
17th January 2017 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
The Louisiana Weekly, Editor
Nearly a half-century ago, an assassin’s bullet extinguished the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
The deadly bullet that claimed the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s life on April 4, 1968 could not kill the movement for justice and equity King led. Nor could it kill the dream of a more democratic nation and world, one where workers from all nations were treated fairly by the world’s wealthiest governments and corporations and the people of the world could live free of economic injustice, unconstitutional policing, unequal protection under the law, environmental racism, educational apartheid, mass incarceration, unconstitutional jailing, taxation without representation and a host of other societal ills and injustices.
Having witnessed the ongoing slaughter of unarmed Black and Brown men, women and children and efforts to “turn back the clock” in America by undermining the progress represented by Brown v. The Board of Education and the Voting and Civil Rights Acts, it is clear that the dream so eloquently described by King and others at the Historic March on Washington is still far from reality and moving further beyond the reach of the masses of the people of this nation and the world rather than closer.
While there are still things that we do not know about the death of Dr. King, we do know that the powers that be were not happy about the idea of King launching a Poor People’s Campaign in Memphis, Tennessee or the fact that King had become an outspoken critic of the nation’s foreign policy, most notably its involvement in the Vietnam War and the Middle East conflict.
To march for the right to vote and to integrate public facilities was one thing — it was quite another thing to challenge the core of global white supremacy and to begin to connect and network with other oppressed peoples around the world in the name of economic empowerment, social justice and self-determination.
It is interesting to consider that the FBI’s notorious COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program) initiative, which targeted all efforts by groups in the U.S. that dared to stand up against white supremacy and the systematic oppression of melaninated people, viewed and treated both Dr. King and Black Nationalist leader Malcolm X as a threat to the system and as enemies of the State.
As these two brilliant Black leaders began to look beyond the U.S. border for allies in the global struggle for justice, freedom and equity, it became clear to the powers that be in the United States that they had to be stopped by any means necessary.
As we continue to struggle today for many of the same things Martin and Malcolm fought, bled and died for, let us be mindful of the fact that the same racist and imperialist forces that made the world unsafe for democracy back then are still at work.
Although it has been often used as a bumper sticker slogan, it is imperative that we think globally and act locally. And that we remember, as King and Nelson Mandela reminded us, that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
There was a time during the Historic Civil Rights Movement when Black leaders were able to use the media to show the nation and the world just how brutal and reprehensible life was in the Jim Crow Deep South. Those powerful images of local cops, state troopers and white mobs attacking unarmed men, women and children of all races shocked the nation’s conscience and fueled the growing call for desegregating public facilities, extending voting rights to people of color and protecting the civil rights of all people who live in the United States.
That is a strategy that would be less effective today in a nation where white anger has propelled a movement to undermine the voting and civil rights of Black and Brown people, undermine public education and weaken the government’s ability to provide services to those who need the most help.
You cannot appeal to the nation’s conscience when so many segments of the population have supported the election of unconscionable local, state and federal lawmakers whose sole priority is to win at any cost.
We find ourselves in the midst of a post-millennial fight for our lives where some of those who aid and abet our oppressors look like us and have no qualms about selling out communities of color to line their pockets and elevate their careers.
We need a small army of dedicated, tireless leaders who espouse the principles and hard-fought wisdom and insight of past leaders like King, Brother Malcolm, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois and others, leaders who are not ego-driven or motivated by personal gain.
We would do well to find, identify and offer our support to leaders such as North Carolina’s the Rev. William Barber and to give them everything they need to successfully lead us out of the darkness and chaos we currently find ourselves in.
We cannot allow self-proclaimed leaders, charlatans or opportunists to lead us further down the path of dependence on our oppressors or the road that leads to degradation destruction and defeat.
This article originally published in the January 16, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
