[Lace on Race Admin Staff]

https://laceonrace.com/2020/01/19/the-selling-of-martin-luther-king/

 

The Selling of Martin Luther King

Discussion

[Laura Berwick]

I was reflecting earlier today on how I’d gone 42 years of my life not being a person who uses the “F” word, but here we are. 2020 man.

I feel something similar as I read this essay this year. I read it when it was first posted. I mean, there it is, my comment on it. But even in the past year I feel like I’ve deepened in this work to the extent that… I went 42 years of my life not being a person ready to encounter King where HE is at, rather than where *I* am at. But 2020, man. I may look back in another year and laugh at the thought that I thought I was ready today. But… I am more ready today, and if I can be even more ready tomorrow, I’ll do that.

I went… well not all 42 years of my life, but most of them, assuming that I was doing good enough. Now I know there is no “good enough” to do. I need to do good, and do better. I don’t have to, in fact, I can’t do it alone. But I do need to do it. I’m looking forward to inculcating what I learn about Dr. King for use in furthering his goals and our North Star.

[Rebecca McClinton]

@laura-berwick Your statement about meeting Rev. Dr. King where HE is at rather than where *I* am at really stood out to me, and I’m considering how often I still do that in racial justice work…looking at pieces of things for what I want to hear (or for the most sensationalized juicy bits) instead of what I (or others need of me) to hear.

[Rebecca McClinton]

Your statement about meeting Rev. Dr. King where HE is at rather than where *I* am at really stood out to me, and I’m considering how often I still do that in racial justice work…looking at pieces of things for what I want to hear (or for the most sensationalized juicy bits) instead of what I (or others need of me) to hear.

[Danielle Holcombe]

“I went… well not all 42 years of my life, but most of them, assuming that I was doing good enough. Now I know there is no “good enough” to do. I need to do good, and do better. I don’t have to, in fact, I can’t do it alone. But I do need to do it.”

This is very much me, and very relevant words for a conversation I’m having with a friend today who feels she is very “good” and who I am to say there may be a “better” out there.

I think I’m the kind of person who, with each new lesson learned, and each bit of knowledge gained, I return again to the place of feeling “good enough.” It is my hope and plan that from here forward, as I walk intentionally in service to our North Star, that I will never again return to a place of “good enough.” That I will never again think, now is the time to rest on my laurels satisfied with all that has been accomplished (by the communities I align myself with and work within). Until I am dead, I will have work to do and growth to nurture and tools to clean and care for and use faithfully, to lessen and mitigate harm.

[Kelsi Watters]

Laura, that’s a good point – I was wondering what the AFTER stood for – but now I get it! 🙂 I have to say that I am just now starting to learn how to say exactly what I mean – and sometimes, that involves unapologetically using a cuss word. It’s not something I’m proud of because I think there are probably more powerful ways to make an impact with your words and express yourself without having to cuss – but sometimes, it seems there is power in a cuss word. I am just now starting to learn to say exactly what I mean, rather than beating around the bush and then spending hours afterward boiling inside. My natural tendency is to avoid confrontation and conflict, which often results in me being nice, passive-aggressive, and replaying in my mind the things I should have said. Then I get mad at myself for not speaking my truth, which builds on my anger with the other person, until I finally have to release it somehow. It’s not a fun cycle/loop, nor is it healthy. It is taking a lot of practice and intentional work for me to not freeze or flee in confrontation, to speak my truth directly but with kind candor.

[Christina Sonas]

MLKJr: the second most white-washed man in history (after Jesus). White-washed by white people to protect white supremacy, to protect the systems that have protected and privileged and empowered… Me. So I need to remember: like the lipstick, like the spirituals and gospels, like Toni Morrisson and Black Panther, though I may consume what MLKJr has offered, it is essential that I maintain a respectful distance. He did not speak for me or to me, and I will pervert his message if I take it out of the context of its Black audience. I can find myself in it, certainly – the dangerous white moderate – and I can read and listen and inculcate. But I won’t be honoring him if I don’t properly acknowledge and incorporate my true relationship to him and to his work.

[Valerie Polichar]

Yeah, I’m feeling this too. White folks often like to quote MLK in non-racial discussions or as a way of virtue signaling. I uncomfortably quoted him on MLK day to my staff a couple of times over the years, feeling a sense of obligation, and not really understanding what to do with that sense. I didn’t really understand what about it made me uncomfortable at the time, but I think somewhere inside me I knew I was making it about me.

[Jessie Lee]

I’m reminded of Holly’s piece a while back– I’m paraphrasing– about how the words of Black activists are not for my inspiration and good feels; the struggles from which they are birthed are not mine as a white person to claim. As a white person, I am to study the words of Dr. King and other revolutionaries to follow his lead in disrupting the status quo and living out a marrow deep conviction. As the cliche goes, it’s so much easier said than done. I think if it’s easy, I’m not being disruptive enough. I have to lose my ego entirely to do my part in working toward Dr. King’s vision of “Beloved Community.” I can’t build the world we say we want to live in if I’m selective about which benefits of whiteness I am willing to cut ties with. This weekend I will be reflecting deeply on that… and making a plan for the way forward.

[Rebecca McClinton]

@jessie Your comment reminded me of what Lace shared in her Kwanzaa video when she read the article by the Kwanzaa founder, Dr. Maulana Karenga. I went back to re-read that part again just now. Though Lace was talking about Dr. Karenga, the same is true re: the ways I should be interacting with MLK’s work:

“He’s talking about the oppression that either you perpetuated or that was perpetuated on your behalf. When he talks about resilience, he’s not talking about your resilience and overcoming. He’s talking about the resilience exhibited by a people who overcame, again, what you perpetuated or what was perpetuated in your name. That gives a different angle.”

[Clare Steward]

Jessie and Rebecca, both of those examples also came to my mind as I read this essay. I know that I’ve viewed Rev, Dr. King’s words and legacy through the wrong lens in the past and an excited to have the foundation needed to deeply dive in, eyes and ears wide open and NS front and center.

[Amanda Swartfager]

@jessie Something that’s a bit of a lumpy crossing for me right now is wanting to comment and share and learn openly and publicly, but also not wanting to speak over or offend my friends with BIPOC identities. Sometimes I wonder if sharing something race-related might cause more problems, or make someone think that I don’t have the right to say anything about racial equity. I’m struggling to figure out if this is really about not wanting to seem like I’m going out of my lane and possibly harming someone, or if it’s self-centered, not wanting others to see me in a negative light.

[Valerie Polichar]

I wrestle with this also. On Twitter I’ve taken to RT’ing the direct tweets of Black folks rather than quote-tweeting my own editorial on top of it, as I’d done in the past. But if I’m in personal (not public) communication with another white person and I’d like them to read something that I learned from and think they would learn from, I might explain to them why I feel that way. To some degree I struggle with participation on this forum because it’s public and I do not want to be seen to be participating as a form of virtue signaling.

[Emily Holzknecht]

I am thinking about how this relates to staying in our own lane and how vulnerability plays a strong and important role. It seems to me that posting what amounts to your own lecture on racial justice is pretty different from posting about how you read this and you see yourself in the oppressor when you do this particular behavior and you are working to change it. The second is a disruption of white supremacy in itself, making the covert overt and making your accountability public.

[Danielle Holcombe]

Exactly this Emily. If we put ourselves in the position of student, not teacher; sinner, not priest; perpetrator, not judge, then ideally we are speaking from a place of humility. “I have a tendency to do/say/feel/act this way. These words from [Black teacher] have changed how I react/respond/behave because ________.” This is a great way to share content on racism and white supremacy using the words of Black men and women, while sharing how deep internal work has contributed to you becoming less harmful.

[Clare Steward]

@emily and @danielle thank you for commenting on this, I have seen others ask this question and what you have said is very helpful. My tendency is to share information without any comment at all which could be considered as surface level or performative…there is no skin in the game or ownership when I share without any acknowledgement of how I locate myself in what I am sharing from Black and Brown authors are saying or how it has helped to hold me accountable. There is more risk in adding my own words and avoiding that risk is something I need to examine….I am putting my comfort in front of the importance of the message I am sharing and it doesn’t add to the call to get people that I know into the car.

[Amanda Swartfager]

“Honoring only the selective is not true honor. Distorted and deluded ‘remembrance’ in service not of the man, but for self serving and disingenuous purposes is not remembering, rather, it is nothing more or less than propaganda which subverts the discussion, and hijacks both the message and the way forward.”

I’m seeing how selective honoring plays a huge role in white supremacy, and particularly in the schema I’ve created around the word “honor.” I often am self centering when I think I’m honoring someone, speaking words, and taking actions that I’ve superimposed, or a better word would be twisted, to reflect what I’ve projected as important. I can see how this behavior is exponentially harmful when considering power structures around race.

[Rebecca McClinton]

This is another big thing I’ve learned since coming to Lace on Race, how white people like me use and pick through Black wisdom, using the parts of their legacy that fit into our narratives and back our agendas, as Lace says here “distorting…deluding…self serving”. I have done this previously using the words of MLK and others and it was outside of my lane to do so. This is exactly (and intentionally) how we’ve ended up with the white-washed history books and stories we have. I can’t just bring part of history or part of me to racial justice work. I have to look at the ugly and searing truths of history, of legacy’s like MLK, and of the work I have to continue doing inside of myself and my community.

[Amanda Swartfager]

It’s true that I’ve made it a habit to pick and choose and cut apart the legacies of others as much as I’ve done the same with what I share of myself. I’m learning more and more what it means to be authentic without self centering and to learn from Black leadership without whitewashing the lessons to fit the harmful patterns of behavior I’m rooting out.

[Rebecca McClinton]

@amanda-swartfager I think I received a lot of white training in this…’pick out what’s most beneficial to you and to people you care about’. I’m working to become more and more aware when I’m approaching things through that lens. If I’m looking at things from a ‘what’s in it for me’ mentality (especially in racial justice work) then someone is having to pay the price for what I’m cutting out.

[Rebecca McClinton]

@amanda-swartfager I think I received a lot of white training in this…’pick out what’s most beneficial to you and to people you care about’. I’m working to become more and more aware when I’m approaching things through that lens. If I’m looking at things from a ‘what’s in it for me’ mentality (especially in racial justice work) then someone is having to pay the price for what I’m cutting out.

[Rebecca McClinton]

I think I received a lot of white training in this…’pick out what’s most beneficial to you and to people you care about’. I’m working to become more and more aware when I’m approaching things through that lens. If I’m looking at things from a ‘what’s in it for me’ mentality (especially in racial justice work) then someone is having to pay the price for what I’m cutting out.

[Christina Sonas]

I appreciate the two of you broadening how selectivity is a white supremacy technique universally: Dr. King and other voices of color, and also history, science, our own lives, the Bible, the Constitution… I need to be aware of this as an unhealthy behavior of my whiteness.

[Grace Bannerman]

Picking and choosing parts of Dr. King’s words and work to support the unjust & harmful status quo is a problem. Without looking further, I/we/our individual selves and the status quo aren’t challenged. As a white person, my default assumption was and is all too often that everything is for me to use, including Dr. King’s words, without considering the context or impact of me sharing them/using them for social capital. I would carefully consider it before quoting Dr. King now, and look forward to learning more about the range of his work and about him as a person, and living in ways that are consistent with his work.

[Shara Cody]

I really appreciate how you emphasized learning about MLK as a person and the range of his work cause it helps to counteract the way white people pick and choose parts while fetishizing Black leaders and is a good reminder to me as I learn about him.

[Konstanze Weltersbach]

There’s a problem when I use “honoring” someone as an excuse to put them on a pedestal, turn them into a one-dimensional icon, and avoid engaging honestly by picking the parts I want to honor. As Laura said, meeting them where I am.

There is a problem when people are unable to hold more than one truth. When we are looking for simple solutions that fit our narrative. I can find inspiration in places that were not made for me, and make sure that I use what comes from this inspiration not just for my benefit in all kinds of areas but also (first) in the areas it was intended for. To honor means to work towards their legacy.

[Shara Cody]

Commodification of MLK’s ideas by profiting either directly by sales using his quotes/stories/images or indirectly by attaching company or political image (marketing themselves) to MLK’s legacy as their own. This commodification and appropriation are capitalist, racist, and violent but Lace’s article is also pointing out that the commodification is incomplete and superficial in comparison to MLK’s values and she focused on the way that MLK’s vision is truncated and twisted. Profiting and controlling the story/history to devalue or hide true intention to prevent change are major parts of white supremacy. Emulation and honouring isn’t just saying you agree with the person, stealing their ideas or words, or knowing a few facts about their life, but is taking action to see their vision through and to live by their values that you say you admire and want to espouse. To personalize, everything I know about MLK is from the media and the commodification of his legacy (didn’t learn about him in school but it would have been superficial and white washed no doubt anyway) therefore I have participated in that commodification and not done the work to understand and internalize his vision and the truths that he shared. I’ll remedy this so I can be a better walker in this community and in my personal life in order to lessen and mitigate harm to Black and brown people by me, other white people, and white supremacy.

[Shara Cody]

Adding a few thoughts after reading through other comments: I’ll need to carefully consider the source of the material about MLK that I choose to read to ensure I read the true story of his life and vision and not what white supremacy wants to present. Also that as I read MLK’s story, to remember that it’s not about me or for me as a white person.

[Emily Holzknecht]

That’s a great point about choosing sources carefully when it comes to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. !

[Valerie Polichar]

I had a brief conversation with Lace recently where I was reflecting on her challenge to us to investigate and understand the ways in which the spiritual side of King were absolutely critical to his work. She gently guided us to consider as well the critical relationship between the Black church and the struggle for civil rights. In the past, I’d often dodged that aspect as my background is not in Christianity and I don’t happen to believe in a god. I thought, “Well, I can’t really understand this so I can just work around it.” In her challenge to us to take in the whole man I hear more than just “…faults and all” and “…complexity of message and all” but also “…faith and all.” I need to dig in here and try to understand, because it’s critical to understanding so much more.

[Konstanze Weltersbach]

That is a good point. I don’t understand faith in a god, but I’ve seen how their faith made some people best versions of themselves (and hoe other people’s views got clouded and limited because of their faith).

I am not to judge how someone finds their ethics and guidance. And I am not to exclude this aspect from their essence, especially when systems of faith were such a central part of strength and empowerment.

[Nora Larson]

Valerie,

I appreciate your point here. I am not religious either and I thought I could dodge around the posts and prompts about religion. Once again I’m following harmful patterns of not listening to Lace’s leadership and wanting to engage in the posts and prompts that I find “easier”. I will go back to engage with the posts about the Black Church.

[Emily Holzknecht]

I could pat myself on the back and say, I have been recognizing this colonization of MLK that white people do. What I have not done though is to put significant effort into learning about the rest of him and his ideas. What I have also not done is be prepared with a way to interrupt when others are using him for their own gravitas, perhaps by asking what they think about another more challenging quote of his or by verbalizing how I see myself in the oppressor in relation to a quote of his being used. My awareness is not enough. My lack of action in my own learning and my silence is helping to hold up this part of the system.

[Dee (Dalina) Weinfurtner]

Totally relate. Especially with the “my awareness is not enough”, that really challeges me to remember its not just about me but of what I can do through the work. I like your point of preparing ahead of time how to ask the right questions when challenging others. The point of challenging others is to help them see and grow not to just point out how wrong they are.

[Clare Steward]

I also have a lot of work to do. Lace is providing us with so many resources and so many powerful queries that will guide us in doing the work to dig deeper, learn more about Dr. King and be prepared to engage in those more challenging discussions.

[Dee (Dalina) Weinfurtner]

I honestly don’t even know where I have been my whole life. So many 3rd Mondays in January in honor of Dr. King’s January 15th birthday, came and went and I never gave it much thought. I would have said I cared or that I believed in racial justice but clearly there was no evidence in my life that it was true. Well, here I am now and I will not let this day go by without grabbing onto a real sense of who Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was and getting a foundational idea about his life and moving forward to build on what I learn today. My children will certainly know him as I teach them about the whole historical picture of what lead us to today, integrating “Black history” into just history. Today and moving forward I seek to truly honor and respect Dr. King by learning, acknowledging, internalizing and striving to live out his vision. I will no longer be indifferent to the racism and classism, knowing that I have the ability to help dismantle them. I look forward to diving in deeper today and making Dr. King’s legacy an integrated part of the journey toward the North Star.

[Nora Larson]

Dee, your first three sentences resonate so much with me. I could have said them.

I’m a teacher and there were many years, including this year, where I saw MLK day as a day to catch up on grading or planning, as a teacher’s work is never done. I realize now I was doing triple harm – harm to myself for not educating myself and reflecting in order to live out my *supposed* values. Harm to my students (mostly Latinx) by remaining silent in the days before and after Dr. King’s birthday. Harm to the wider Black and Brown communities by thinking I cared about racial justice but doing nothing to make that show up in my actions.

[Nora Larson]

In Lace’s YouTube video, “Martin Luther King Intro”, she says: “We can do no less; it is not enough to honor the easy quotes; it is not enough to wax poetic about what Dr. King would have said when we have the historical record of what he actually did say and there’s a lot of daylight between what most white people think you said and what he actually said.”

This resonated with me. There is so much daylight between what I’ve been taught and “know” about Dr. King and the full picture of who he really was. I came to Lace on Race this weekend knowing that the little I know and honor of MLK’s legacy is what has been deemed “palatable” by the mainstream media and white supremacy. I wanted to learn more about who he really was.

In starting to explore this post and after watching Lace’s YouTube video, I made note of Lace recommending reading the Riverside Church speech. I looked it up and saw that it was an hour long and hesitated to engage with it- “too long”. Then, I saw two posters mention “The Letter from Birmingham Jail” and the movie “Selma”. I thought “oh, I could watch Selma tonight”, and “oh, I could read the Letter, that sounds shorter/easier”.

Then, I realized a couple things – I noticed that I was leaning more towards doing the work that (presumably) white folks recommended, vs what Lace, our Black leader, was recommending. Lace has spoken about how it is hard for white people to be under Black leadership. Yes, this is something I have to practice – trusting and following Lace’s lead. Then I also realized if I watched Selma, I would still be engaging with a commercialized version of Dr. King’s story, when I have available to me recordings and transcripts of his own words.

So, I did go and read Dr. King’s Riverside Church speech. Many quotes stood out to me, but I’ll choose one for now: “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin…we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

This makes me think about the connections between racism and capitalism. As a vegetarian I’ve said that my daily choice to not eat meat makes a larger impact than donations I could make to environmental justice groups. While I think there is a place for donations, and I do donate, I’m beginning to think about this in terms of racial justice. What choices can I make in my daily/weekly/monthly purchases to reduce and mitigate the harm to Black and Brown people, perpetuated by capitalism? Exploring this and making some commitments needs to be a part of my practice.

[Catherine Seaver]

Hi Nora, I really appreciate you writing about how you noticed yourself pausing at engaging when the Riverside Church speech because it was too long – this happened for me too – and leaning towards other options suggested by white folks in this space. I have often had to remind myself that learning to trust and follow Lace as our Black leader is a crucial part of this work – and my resistance is important to interrogate and move past. I’m making a plan for how to make time this week to watch and engage with that sermon Dr. King gave at Riverside Church. Now that my little kids are back in “weird online school” I will have more moments to focus. Hoping to see you over there!

[Catherine Seaver]

“America can and must, both individually, and in our common life in this nation, search our hearts and examine our actions. We must take a good look at the stains of racism, classism, and indifference to what our choices have done to the environment, both here and worldwide, that blot our national collective soul. Then and only then, can we even come close to the ‘content of character’ we say we want, but do so little to actually achieve.” – Lace Watkins

I’m struck here by the immense task of pushing the stone of racism, and how overwhelming that task can be – I’m thinking about the ways I have been moved, encouraged and exhorted to do better in this space. And at this moment, I’m realizing that Dr. King’s complexity – that I’m only on delving into understanding more deeply – will likely also reveal the kind of wisdom and practicality that I’ve been learning here at Lace on Race. About being resilient, about what it means to love each other deeply, durably – and that only by combining this internal and communal work will we sustain the effort to do this immense work. I keep walking.

[Leah Gallo]

If indoctrination into supremacy, wealth and systems of power are the three legs of racism then Co-opting, commercializing, and capitalizing are a sister stool. Sand off all sharp edges (de-claw and de-fang for sensitive white ears), make sure this new image is seen far and wide, then profit! I have been looking for books to share with my son about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and I couldn’t find one that didn’t completely sanitize his message or emphasize peace and love above all else (I did find one by MLK’s son that might work for older children). If I can find an age appropriate book for kindergarten (by a Black author!), I’m going to suggest it to my son’s school, because what they use is just more peace and love written by a white woman.

Our very first concept we are introduced to of MLK is wrong and then it goes from there. Just one aspect of the white washing of our education and everything in the USA. I know now I need to learn more about who MLK is before I can hope to live out in service to his legacy. Certainly my previous history of pulling quotes and sharing on the day and somehow thinking that was enough or had any meaningful purpose other than to make ‘me’ feel good has been far from the mark (and probably situated me with a huge chunk of the rest of white America). I have been educating myself through the resources here and others that friends have suggested. I also know I need to be purposefully teaching my kids the truth, which is a path I’m navigating with mixed results (my attempt at making my 6yo watch the entire ‘I have a dream’ speech was a misfire as it was over his head, but we were able to discuss it a bit and try again in a year).

“Savvy, down to earth, utterly confident, nobody’s fool.” This sounds way too cool for me, as I have certainly never been that, but I’m willing to strive for it in service to the North Star. In the meantime, I’m learning, unlearning, teaching, walking.

[Kelsi Watters]

When I read this article, I think it ties back into a valuable point that was discussed in other posts – specifically, that whiteness and white supremacy re-shapes history into something that makes us comfortable rather than accepting the full truth and reality of it. This includes distorting the words of black and brown people and turning them into moral icons, which, ultimately, is another

jay of re-shaping history, stripping black and brown people of their power by whitewashing their vision, their ideas, their words, and even who they are. The next step is to start weaponizing their words for the purpose of political gain, thereby promoting systems and structures of white supremacy, and then selling their distorted image and words. MLK is the prime example. Most of the time, when someone quotes MLK, they cherry-pick the beautiful, elegant, kumbaya words, and not the words or aspects of his vision that cause discomfort. As Lace said, we all need to do better. I wonder what our country would look like if we started viewing discomfort as a positive, rather than negative. How powerful a tool would that be in dismantling structures of white supremacy?

MLK’s words, to some extent, are meant to create discomfort and the unsettledness in spirit that comes with the recognition that change is urgently necessary. What would it look like for America, for whiteness, for institutions, faith communities, for myself individually, to embrace that feeling of unsettledness or discomfort, to abide with it and listen to what our unsettled spirits are telling us?

I have been guilty of this many times. I think it’s a natural human tendency to want to look for the beauty or positivity in something, because staying with a stark or uncomfortable reality is so hard. I used to consider discomfort, frustration, unsettledness, and any other unpleasant emotion as negative, but I see now how that often led me to be complacent. Now, however, I’m learning to sit with those feelings, especially in my walk toward racial justice. When something in this walk makes me uncomfortable, whether it is an uncomfortable truth about myself, or feelings of conviction, awareness that I could be doing more, or the truthful, courageous words of a black or brown person that stir discomfort by speaking to the heart of the problem – whatever it is, no matter how difficult to swallow, I will commit to embracing it as part of the journey. If I find myself shrinking away or retreating to my quiet bubble, that’s when I know I have more work to do.

I appreciate all the hard work, time, courage, vulnerability, and energy Lace and her team put into these discussions, and revealing the “down-to-earth”, tenacious, embracing Dr. King most of us never knew.

[Author]

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