Born on January 15, 1929, (previously Michael) Martin Luther King, Jr., became an iconic figure in civil rights. The man's legacy was not of greatness.
He was vilified by conservatives. Black figures like Malcolm X called him a sell-out or a traitor to his race. Others claimed he was a snake oil salesman, an adulterer and a fraud.
From 1953 until his untimely death in 1968, King led the fight for Blacks in the South. He called for an end to Jim Crow segregation laws, establish voting rights for Blacks, and call for an end to poverty.
So many things happened during his time on earth but most didn't know he was a marked man because he stood up against the system.
Did you know he nearly committed suicide after his grandmother passed away?
Did you know that King did not trust white people at one time hated them for the way they treated his father, brother and mother?
Did you know he survive two assassination attempts before the Memphis encounter?
Did you know Martin Luther King was an independent not a Republican?
Democrats were not all on board with civil rights. Republicans at one time were the champions of civil rights. With the fears of communism and the conservative rise of charlatans like Joseph McCarthy, Strom Thrumond and Barry Goldwater, King was the other enemy to the far right.
King did lead the Montgomery bus boycott, the Albany, Georgia movement and protest in Birmingham. Richard Nixon blew an opportunity to win Black voters. Then vice president brushed off the calls to take on Southern governors attempts to stop desegregation. Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts called upon the release of King and asked for his brother Robert and civil rights leaders to aid him. That earned King's endorsement. Kennedy would become the 35th President of the United States.
Kennedy was cautious about King. He knew the allegations of associating with alleged communists would be damaging to him. Kennedy kept the fight for civil rights but died because of it. He was assassinated in 1963 and Lyndon B. Johnson took control. During that time, King worked with Johnson to get the Kennedy agenda to fruition. It took a speech at the Lincoln Memorial to drive the world to King.
King helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
It was an ugly fight in the 1960s in the South. There was the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, the killing of civil rights workers in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, the arrest of King and his allies.
The Klan was at its strongest during the 1960s. The federal government was pressured to do something.
The SCLC put into practice the tactics of nonviolent protest with some success by strategically choosing the methods and places in which protests were carried out. There were several dramatic stand-offs with segregationist authorities, who sometimes turned violent.
J. Edgar Hoover considered King a radical and made him an object of the FBI's COINTELPRO from 1963, forward. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, recorded his extramarital affairs and reported on them to government officials, and, in 1964, mailed King a threatening anonymous letter, which he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide.
King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. He was there for the signings of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act under President Lyndon B Johnson.
The two would lose favor after Johnson vowed to take on the Viet Cong in Vietnam. King distanced himself from the 1968 Democratic presidential primaries. He didn't endorse candidates. Johnson sought to no longer be president and it led to a lot of tension.
During the striking garbage workers in Memphis, an assassin shot King in April. The Lorraine Motel in Memphis is now a memorial to his passing.
Since 1983, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday is celebrated in the United States. It was the first holiday to an African American and a non politician. On the third Monday of the month of January, we honor King's legacy and offer a day of service.
I seriously believe that if King was alive, he would be disappointed in the way things are going.
Republicans and some Democrats twist his legacy into a partisan agenda. Republicans are on board with white nationalism and dog whistle politics. Democrats are on the side of white gentificiation and side piece meal politics.
Both sides are not working in the interest of King.
But we can change that. I believe we should continue to fight for the right to vote. It may not affect me now, but it will in the future. Trust me, we have a long way to go before we can achieve King's dream.
But it will be done.
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