01/15/2024
HOT TAKE: MLK didn’t always get it right - and we shouldn’t act like he did.
Every year, we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - we reflect on his speeches, the movements of his time, and his message about non-violent change.
However, we at ABWF believe that it’s our responsibility to think critically about his ideals, and to question what we know about his teachings.
For example, as we witness one of the most visible genocides in human history, many organizers and activists around the world would be in opposition with King, who once described the settler-colony of Israel as “one of the great outposts of democracy in the world.”
We’re tempted to extrapolate from his other texts to get an idea of where he would stand on this issue, but we’d argue that that’s not necessary, especially when we have unprecedented access to Palestinian voices, some of whom are undergoing bombardment right now.
We have been taught to deify King, to see his words like scripture and to never question his philosophies on freedom. This makes it easy for the ruling class to decontextualize and weaponize those words to maintain the status quo.
It’s for this reason that, on this topic, we shouldn’t seek to invoke the name of MLK above the voices of living Palestinians. We invite you to contend with King, to humanize him by allowing him, even posthumously, to be wrong.
