“I had a dream once. It was a dream that little black boys and little black girls would drink from the river of prosperity, freed from the thirst of oppression. But lo and behold, some four decades later, what have I found but a bunch of trifling, shiftless, good-for-nothing…”
Those words didn’t actually come from Dr. King’s mouth, rather, his character in a parody episode of The Boondocks. Even though that episode was pretty foul, the message was that if MLK were here today, he’d be so ashamed, disappointed, and disheartened.
Unfortunately, those photos are real, and I wish I could say it’s the only time I’ve seen something like that. But it’s not. Club promoters are using the image of a civil rights leader to push their party for a three day weekend. This man fought for racial equality, led boycotts, endured harassment, was arrested and assassinated, and people think the third Monday in January is just another day off? The disrespect is unbelievable. Is nothing sacred?
When President Obama was elected to office in 2008, countless amount of people wished that Martin Luther King, Jr. was alive to see the day. Our country is being led by an African-American president. That would have definitely made Dr. King and other civil rights leaders proud. But there are so many ridiculous things that would make them feel ashamed.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean the characters on “love of” this and “housewives” and their making up of content on television. However, we give and receive those judgments. Baby mamas‘ and sisterhoods? So many of our late great activists have been rolling over in their graves at what we’ve been doing to ourselves.
MLK Day is a day to reflect on the blood, sweat, and tears that Dr. King and others sacrificed for things we take for granted today. We should be celebrating our freedoms, and how far we’ve come since 1963 when he delivered his speech in Washington, D.C. The dream is not complete, but it should not be insulted.
It’s been almost 50 years, and we still have a long way to go. We can continue to move forward if we would get out of our own way. Stop the ignorance, stop the arrogance, and stop using Dr. King to promote your ridiculous party.
This is a great piece. I could not have said it better.
This is a darn shame. Dispicable! Defaming his image like that. What have we come to as a people. We are going from classy to trashy. This has got to stop!
You’re an idiot!
Your ignorant and disrespectful comments can be taken to another forum. It will not be tolerated here.
Appalling!!!
Many African -Americans wonder why they have to continuously fight to gain the basic levels of respect in this country(and in the world). That is a great question, but why don’t we see that the biggest roadblocks come from within our race due to how we so easily deface our own sacred images, and our most impacting leaders and citizens of our race who have made great contributions, and sacrifices in the face of adversity.
No matter how many film makers are from Israel you have never seen the holocaust portrayed in a demeaning way. You don’t see those who suffered during that period displayed in a demeaning way by their own people.
African Americans deface their own, and that makes others outside of our race see a door open to do the same. Then we become publicly outraged, yet we are at the top of the list leading everyone else in taking what should be revered, and turning it into satire and a joke.
We use the “N” word like we would all die if it was to stop being used during the period of the week. We embrace it as though we are proving a worthy point that if we say it ;it takes on some majestic meaning. But, if anyone else uses it; it is demeaning. That is the dumbest piece of logic that I never want to be associated with.People outside of our race hold Dr. King in higher esteem then some of us within our race do. That is just a pure disgrace. We think that if we say “we don’t give a _____” in mainly every situation that requires our allegiance that this somehow magically smooths over everything.
We don’t need others outside of our culture to come inside of our circle to hoodwink us anymore. We are doing to good of a job on our own. This is the real tragedy.
Preach on it!
Thank you! I totally agree!
sad. aaron mcgruder predicted this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5FR1LGsT7E
So sad these folks want to party so bad, they would degrade the image of one of the greatest civil rights leaders to emerge in our lifetime. This is systematic and symptomatic of our younger generation and their lack of understanding and knowledge of their history in this country. These folks don’t even recognize that it is because of Dr. King and others that they can even hold such a party. It’s time for us as Black Americans of African descent to stop rushing back to slavery and ignorance. It has taken over 400 years to arrive to this place an actions like this seem to put us as a race in the back of the line again.
We still have a long ways to go! We have internal racism which is not mentioned enough and if you were to go on social networking sites, you will see it blatantly displayed by our own people as well as other races. We will be quick to call a dark skinned girl ugly and a light skinned girl pretty. We will tell the girl with natural hair that her hair is not neat but then turn around and show appreciation to those who straighten theirs or wear weaves. A discussion on FB really upset me, when someone asked people to click “like if you hate racism.” People clicked like and then stated, “I hate racism and I hate neggas.” When white people say this it is racist! It is a shame that blacks use this word as a term of endearment when whites are still using it against us. Racism is still not done away with because employers live it but silently. They show favoritism at work by pointing out that so and so, the other race did an excellent job while ignoring your faithful dedication of getting the work done. They promote the other race and invite them to conference meetings while telling you to remain on the floor. Why, because of their “super ego” that one race is still better than the other. If we have no one defending us “in numbers,” they will continue to mistreat us. We need to come together! Sometimes I really wish there were more Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s and Malcolm X’s around.
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