As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., you'll see a lot of out-of-context quotes from people who have fought against what King stood for.

I think one of the most important parts of MLK's legacy is that it contextualizes how this country reacts to Black protest:

A thread:
Take @TedCruz, for instance.

Remember he said Black Lives Matter activists were "violent terrorists" & 'avowed Marxists' looking to disrupt the 'Western-prescribed nuclear family structure"

These statements may be wrong because the source isn't reputable:

Ted Cruz's website.
Cruz' statements sound a lot like when people called civil rights activists "racial agitators, spurred by communist enticements to promote racial strife."

Who said that?

Senator Strom Thurmond...On June 19, 1964—the day the Civil Rights Act passed.

Thurmond also said
King "must always have an agitation objective lest he end up in the street one day without a drum to beat or a headline to make."

When did he say it?

On the day the Voting Rights Act passed.

Man, that sounds familiar! Who would say something like that?
Hawley sounds like Jesse Helms, who said King's "action-oriented revolutionary doctrine" was not "compatible with the concepts of this country?"

When did he say that racist bullshit?

The day King's birthday became a holiday.

It was longer than 280 characters, tho, so:
And that whole violent insurrection that just happened?

Well, the reason I don't like when people say that the FBI would have been all over it "if Black people had been there" is because I know what the FBI said about King.
You remember the March on Washington, right?

It was that time when violent Black extremists went to Washington and DIDN'T try to overthrow the American government?

What did the FBI say?

They concluded King was the "most dangerous man Negro in the future of this nation."
You can't forget that most white people's opinion of MLK grew WORSE over the years. Seriously. When MLK died AS MANY white Americans (33%) said "he brought it on himself" as said they were sad about it. (32%)
And support for civil rights protests wasn't any different
Of course, that was back then. Race relations are getting better, now. For instance, every day, more people begin to accept the idea that Black Lives Matter...

Except that's not true.

BLM support among White people is actually DECLINING according to everyone who studied it
And this is not to be "divisive" or incendiary and I'm not saying we haven't made any progress

But over the next couple of days, you're gonna hear a lot about King's "Dream" and how far we've come.

All I'm saying is that you should remember that EVERY criticism you hear now
Is the same stuff they told Dr. King when he was alive.

And the reason we have a long way to go is not because we aren't trying

It's because the SAME ARGUMENTS are being used to stop us.

They are ALWAYS wrong.
But, as you can see, that never really mattered, did it?

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with michaelharriot

michaelharriot Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @michaelharriot

18 Jan
Here are some of my favorite stories about Martin Luther King Jr. that you won't hear today from people who wanted to paint him as this adorable teddy bear and not the radical that he was.

A thread.
King was a hustler.

One time, he rode the bus to Dublin, Ga. to enter an oratorical contest about the Constitution for kids from 12-16. Now, this was in 1944, when the U.S. was in WWII.

All the little children give their speeches about Black people in the land of opportunity.
When it was King's turn, he GOES OFF!

He was supposed to be talking about FREEDOM! But he says: "Black America still wears chains. The finest Negro is at the mercy of the meanest white man."

He asked why we were fighting for somebody ELSE's freedom when we ain't free?
Read 33 tweets
11 Jan
The most trifling men in Black music history:

A thread
10. The guy in Jodeci who’s trying to get you to “Stay”

1st of all, he’s not sorry he left you crying, he’s really just sorry he’s all alone.

But here’s the effed up part:

He only wants you to stay FOR A LITTLE WHILE!

You better get your good bra & leave! You know what up.
9. Frankie wants to tell you something “before he lets go.”

He’s CLEARLY telling you that he’s gonna break up with you!

Even though he swears there’s “nothing, nothing, he wouldn’t do,” there is one thing:

As him for his stimmy before he lets GOOOOOOooooooOoOOOooo
Read 12 tweets
6 Jan
White people are storming the Capitol Building to support a white nationalist president and many people are saying: “If Black people did that...”

Not me, though.

I know.

A thread Image
Here’s what happened to them when these “patriots” attacked the CAPITAL OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT for—and I can’t stress this enough—SOMETHING THAT DID NOT HAPPEN Image
Here’s what happened when I covered the George Floyd protests where four officers WERE ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH MURDER
Read 11 tweets
1 Jan
It was a dark and stormy night...

(I’ve always wanted to tweet that) But seriously, there was a tropical storm when a group of people gathered in the woods.

If they were white, we’d call them “founding fathers” but they were slaves who were about to change the world

A thread
Voudou priestess Cecile Fatiman danced with a knife. Then she split a pig and everyone drank the pig’s blood from a wooden bowl while enslaved priest Cutty Boukman prayed:

“The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light. The god who holds up the ocean;
who makes the thunder roar. Our god who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds, who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white man’s god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good...
Read 41 tweets
27 Dec 20
Aight. Here’s my favorite 2 stories about Bill Russell.

Both stories reveal how much of a humble human being he is. And one blows my mind because it dismantles what we think about the evolution of sports.

A thread:
The first is, that there is an assumption that today’s athletes are faster, stronger, etc. which is is based on ZERO evidence.

For instance, Wilt Chamberlain benched 465 lbs at 59 years old. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he benched 500 lbs on the set of Conan the Destroyer
Most basketball experts say Wilt has the highest vertical leap in NBA history. A few others argue that Michael Jordan did.

I think they’re both wrong.

Why?

Well let me tell you a story:
Read 29 tweets
26 Dec 20
RIP KC Jones, the ONLY man to win Olympic gold, multiple NCAA titles; and multiple NBA titles as a player, asst. coach AND head coach.

Jones revolutionized sports, just not the one you’re thinking about.

He's the reason the NFL plays the way it plays

A thread:
Alongside his lifelong teammate Bill Russell, K.C. JONES went undefeated as a point guard of the 55-56 University of San Francisco Dons and won 2 NCAA titles and an Olympic Gold Medal.

He played on EIGHT NBA championship teams.

He was an assistant coach for 2 NBA champions.
As a head coach, he won 2 titles.

Every team he ever played on IN LIFE, went to the playoffs. He was 8-0 in the NBA finals

Every team he ever coached for went to the playoffs, except when he retired halfway through his final season as Seattle coach.
Read 30 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!