*The World House* chapter from #MLK’s last book, ‘Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?’ Here’s an excerpt from that chapter, but I encourage you to read the entire book: beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2010…
“Nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation.” #MLK#NobelPeacePrize
“It's more difficult today because we are struggling now for genuine equality. And it's much easier to integrate a lunch counter than it is to guarantee a livable income and a good solid job.” From ‘The Other America.’ #MLK
“This problem of spiritual and moral lag, which constitutes modern man's chief dilemma, expresses itself in three larger problems which grow out of man's ethical infantilism.” From #MLK ’s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, ‘The Quest for Peace and Justice’
From ‘Paul’s Letter to American Christians’: “Oh America, how often have you taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.” #MLK
Daddy in 1967, sounding like he’s talking in 2022: “And so the collision course is set. The people cry for freedom and the congress attempts to legislate repression.”
“If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read: Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over.” #MLK
‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’
NECESSARY reading.
“You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations.” #MLK
🧵“During the genocidal war in #Tigray…millions of families in were starved by a state sanctioned siege and the destruction of farms, tools, markets, and land by occupying forces.”
🧵 On his 95th birthday, I wanted to share some color photos of Daddy. It wasn’t that long ago… #MLKDay #MLK95 #MLK
“We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.” #MLKDay #MLK95 #MLK
“Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.” #MLKDay #MLK95 #MLK
Please don’t use my father to suggest or assert that #respectability cures #racism.
The white supremacy affirming racist discriminates against Black bodies whether the bodies are in sharp suits or sagging pants.
Lastly...my father was assassinated while dressed “respectably.”
I encourage engaging with respect.
But respectability (which is different) doesn’t cure racism.
And racism has no regard for either.
RESPECTFULNESS is about my standards for engaging earth and humanity. RESPECTABILITY is about me having to meet someone else’s standards in order for them to respect and not violate me psychologically, physically or systemically. And their standards are convenient for them.