Guyanese Online

Do You Know What Martin Luther King Jr. Did? – by Hamden Rice – Daily Kos

Dr. Martin Luther King

Reposted on the anniversary of the celebration of the birthday of Rev. King. MB

This will be a very short diary. It will not contain any links or any scholarly references. It is about a very narrow topic, from a very personal, subjective perspective. The topic at hand is what Martin Luther King actually did, what it was that he actually accomplished.

What most people who reference Dr. King seem not to know is how Dr. King actually changed the subjective experience of life in the United States for African Americans. And yeah, I said for African Americans, not for Americans, because his main impact was his effect on the lives of African Americans, not on Americans in general. His main impact was not to make white people nicer or fairer. That’s why some of us who are African Americans get a bit possessive about his legacy. Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy, despite what our civil religion tells us, is not colour blind.

Here is what Martin Luther King, Jr. actually did:   Continue reading →