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Jan 17,, 8 tweets, 4 min read
Your annual reminder that Dr. King believed in guaranteed universal basic income that gave all people a dignified life, guaranteed housing for all, guaranteed access to a high quality education, & said that “no one should be forced to live in poverty while others live in luxury.”
(via “To Shape a New World” edited by Tommie Shelby & Brandon Terry)
Every year I encourage people to read Brandon Terry’s important essay on King and how “canonization has prevented a reckoning with the substance of King’s intellectual, ethical, and political commitments.”

bostonreview.net/forum/brandon-…
“The problem with how we remember King is not just the inaccuracy or the distortion of his politics, but it is also how those distortions are used to pursue or justify regressive policies that King never would have supported”

Read @KeeangaYamahtta

dailyprincetonian.com/article/2022/0…
It’s also important to remember the role Coretta Scott King played in shaping MLK’s political framework. Credit she’s not always given.

“King learned about the power of utopian thinking from the woman who would become his wife.” — Victoria W. Wolcott

washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
“Martin really knew something about this country & had discovered a lot about the world. At the point, precisely, that he could mix the American domestic morality with America's role in the world, he became dangerous enough to be shot”—James Baldwin, 1978

nytimes.com/1978/04/05/arc…
“But by 1966, it had become clear that many of these whites chafed against further activism and greater demands for equality. They viewed the Voting Rights Act as a final concession; King saw it as a start.” — Vann R. Newkirk II

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
Recommend reading all of @TheAtlantic’s 2018 special issue on King and his legacy.

theatlantic.com/projects/king/

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More from @ClintSmithIII

Clint Smith Profile picture
Jan 7,
Found out that students at my old high school are reading How the Word Is Passed in class, and as someone who wrote this book largely because it’s the sort of book I wish I had when I was in my American history class back then, this really means more than almost anything.
The more I reflect on this, the more I think about 16-year-old me, who was inundated with messages—both implicit and explicit—about all the things society said were wrong with Black people, without being given the historical context to understand the racial disparities around me.
I knew what I was hearing was wrong, but I didn’t know how to *say* it was wrong. I didn’t have the language or historical framework with which to name the lies this country tells of itself. A country that’s long told Black folks that the disparities we experience are our fault.
Read 5 tweets
Clint Smith Profile picture
Nov 17, 2021
A few minutes ago Henry Montgomery, who has been in prison in Louisiana for 57 years—since he was 17 years old—was unanimously granted parole and will be a free man for the first time since 1963.

Congratulations to Mr. Montgomery and all who fought for him. Today is a good day.
Montgomery was the petitioner in a 2016 Supreme Court case, Montgomery v Louisiana, in which the Court ruled that a 2012 decision which banned mandatory life without parole for children, could be applied retroactively. It has freed over 800 ppl & has now freed Montgomery himself.
Montgomery is 75 years old and will be supported by the folks at the Louisiana Parole Project (@paroleproject) as he reenters society. It’s long overdue, but there is a whole community of people ready to welcome him home.
Read 4 tweets
Clint Smith Profile picture
Nov 11, 2021
The US is the only country in the world that sentences children to life without parole. One of those children was Henry Montgomery, whose 2016 Supreme Court case freed hundreds of people, except himself. He's been in prison for 57 years. He should be free. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
It can be difficult to wrap your head around how long 57 years in prison is. It can sometimes seem like an abstraction. But in so many ways, it's a lifetime.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
In Montgomery v Louisiana the Court ruled that its 2012 decision, Miller v Alabama—which banned mandatory life without parole for children—could be applied retroactively. The decisions affected more than 2,600 people, thus far freeing over 800 ppl and potentially hundreds more.
Read 5 tweets
Clint Smith Profile picture
Sep 16, 2021
holy moly
Making the longlist for the National Book Award means more than I can say. I’m so grateful to be on a list that has so many writers and thinkers I admire, including my brother @NifMuhammad. So glad I get to share this moment with him.
Why yes, this absolutely does mean that we are having French fries for dinner
Read 4 tweets
Clint Smith Profile picture
Jul 29, 2021
Last month Connecticut became the first state in the country to make prison phone calls free. It’s a huge victory for the incarcerated and their families and will transform the lives of children with incarcerated parents. Every single state should do this. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
During the public hearing on legislation to make prison phone calls free in CT, some ppl talked about how they couldn’t pay their rent, their gas, or their light bill because of the money they spent trying to stay in touch with a loved one. No one should have to make that choice.
Approximately 2.7 million children have a parent who is incarcerated, and more than 5 million—7 percent of all American children—have had a parent who was held in prison or jail at some point.

Being able to stay in touch with an incarcerated parent is essential for a child.
Read 5 tweets
Clint Smith Profile picture
Jun 25, 2021
Many people have reached out expressing frustration that their local bookstores are sold out of HOW THE WORD IS PASSED. I'm so grateful for the support, but also please be patient with indie bookstores who are doing the best they can to get the book to you as quickly as possible.
Many independent bookstores, who are already struggling to survive, place small book orders because they have to be economically conservative in their business calculus. If they don't have a book in stock, just let them know you'd like them to order it and they'll get it to you.
It's more important than ever to support independent bookstores, whose presence shapes the cultural landscape of communities and whose work make the lives of writers like me possible. It's okay to wait a few days longer to get your book if it means sustaining these institutions.
Read 6 tweets

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