MLK, Jr. was about much more than just anti-discrimination
by David Atkins
As the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., increasingly fades into the gauze of history and legend, politicians on both sides of the aisle have taken to celebrating him and his cause as one of their one. Most of those who will quote and celebrate Martin Luther King today will quote him on the issue of racial equality, especially snippets from his "I have a dream" speech. This was controversial stuff back in King's day, but it's fairly anodyne today.
But to make anti-discrimination the sum total of Dr. King's legacy would be to do a profound disservice to the man and his cause. For Dr. King has much to say that remains controversial and quite painful to conservative ears today.
It was about much more than simple discrimination when Dr. King reminded us that
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
To the wealthy who insisted that fair taxation to help pay for the common good should be eschewed in favor of the charity of their choosing, Dr. King responded:
“Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.”
To those contented with economic inequality who called him a rabble-rouser, Dr. King responded:
“There are certain things in our nation and in the world which I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all men of good-will will be maladjusted…I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few.”
And of democracy , the bugaboo of socialism, and income inequality, Dr. King said: “Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.”
This is the Dr. King that many who would like to claim him, would yet prefer not to speak of. But it was the Dr. King who actually lived, worked and breathed not only to end discrimination, but to end the social injustice that bred and exacerbated discrimination of all kinds. It was the Dr. King who said that we must move from being a “thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society,” and that “when profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
The 2nd inauguration of the first African-American President is a joyous blow against racial discrimination to be sure. But we've just barely gotten started on righting the wrongs Dr. King made his life's mission to correct.
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