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Author: Raine    Date: 01/19/2015 15:43:09

Every year on this day, I write a blog to honor one of the most well known civil rights leaders and activists, Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior.

Every year I try to write something inspiring, something not very well known about a man that I deeply deeply admire - Something like this.

This year it is difficult. I am reading articles about the history of the movement, articles like this interview of Bayard Rustin in 1997. Imagine being a gay man in the civil rights movement when being gay was still illegal. So much progress has been made in the LGBT civil rights movement in just a few years it's hard to imagine that there is still a need for this:

http://uprisingradio.org/home/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/We-cant-breathe-NY-protests.jpg


http://upload.democraticunderground.com/imgs/2014/141205-the-american-tradition-of-inconveniencing-motorists-a-curious-double-standard.jpg


The machine of oppression is still strong, and this year it was clearly illustrated not from the mainstream press, but rather by the ability to reach people (for good and bad) in social media.

We live in very interesting times, and no happy flappy "we love MLK" blog will change the fact that something is happening out there. Paying homage to Dr. King is easy to do; living the kind of life he wanted me to live, you to live, and all of us to live is difficult sometimes. It requires people of my skin color to take responsibility to look around and learn that history is not just in the past. The farther we get from his history, the more sanitized his legacy has become:
Why? Because he was a radical; because he preached God's good news to the poor; because he made people who benefited from the status quo incredibly uncomfortable; and like all the great prophets before him, he was killed for doing these.

So instead of celebrating Martin Luther King as the inspiring leader that makes you feel good, I encourage you to celebrate him honestly, and honor Martin Luther King as the revolutionary that he truly was.

As he did when he was alive, Dr. King would prophetically speak the truth of God and he would demand that these wrongs of war, economic injustice and failures in democracy, be set right. And Dr. King would go beyond words, he would take action - he would put his feet in the street and his body on the line and he would rally others to do so. And in doing these things, Dr. King would encourage the wrath of the majority in our nation, particularly those who benefit from the status quo, and they would hate him for it and they would wish him dead.


Protesters have become demonized by a power structure that doesn't want to see images like the ones I posted here. Pointing out institutional racism doesn't make people comfortable, so instead, we celebrate a man without understanding the disturbing history that gave him a legacy.
In American culture, racism is typically thought of as any prejudice based on race. That popular definition is most often applied to obvious discrimination or hurtful words aimed at people of color. But racism is not a thing of the past which exists only in isolated pockets. There is a much more pervasive form of racism which is often overlooked and dismissed as “just the way things are.”

“The way we as a society have come to treat racism in a post-1960s, post-civil rights movement mentality is that because we’ve changed the laws, there is no more racism,” said Robette Dias, executive co-director of Crossroads Antiracism Organizing and Training, based in Matteson, Illinois.
(snip)

“We could get rid of all the overt bigots who really do harbor racial hatred,” Dias said, “and we would still have a problem.”

There are people that still want to maintain their personal status quo. In order to do that, they can either reach out a hand and lift everyone up to the same playing field or they can fight the people that are marching and protesting and working to make sure everyone has a seat at the table.

The status quo cannot stay, and there are people that are terrified about that. It's uncomfortable, and it should be.

Peace & Love,

Raine
 
 

20 comments (Latest Comment: 01/19/2015 21:20:42 by Raine)
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Comments:

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Comment by Raine on 01/19/2015 14:32:57
ACK!

I forgot today is blog day!

Comment by TriSec on 01/19/2015 14:36:22


Comment by wickedpam on 01/19/2015 14:56:07
Quote by Raine:
ACK!

I forgot today is blog day!



No worries

Comment by Raine on 01/19/2015 15:05:00
Blog will be up in a little bit, I am on it!

Comment by Raine on 01/19/2015 16:01:50
***** BLOG POSTED *****


Comment by Raine on 01/19/2015 16:43:13
Comment by wickedpam on 01/19/2015 16:51:00
Quote by Raine:
MTV, MLK FAIL


I'm not understanding the point to being in black and white - why not just have the discussion without the gimmick?

Comment by Raine on 01/19/2015 17:41:33
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
MTV, MLK FAIL


I'm not understanding the point to being in black and white - why not just have the discussion without the gimmick?
It seems rather condescending and pointless.


Comment by Will in Chicago on 01/19/2015 17:48:30
Quote by Raine:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
MTV, MLK FAIL


I'm not understanding the point to being in black and white - why not just have the discussion without the gimmick?
It seems rather condescending and pointless.



So, is most of what passes for entertainment.

I hope that everyone is well.

I have some sad news. My sister-in-law's Dad passed away at age 76 on his birthday. He was found without a pulse on Saturday night in his nursing home. He was revived, but the higher brain functions were gone.

Thank you all for your kind words and condolences.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 01/19/2015 17:52:20
If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was still among us, he would no doubt address this story:

Richest 1 Percent To Own More Than Half Of The World's Wealth By 2016, Oxfam Finds.

Can we have a world where so many live in poverty or in fear of poverty? I would say no. We are seeing responses in many ways. Perhaps Dr. King would be in North Carolina at a Moral Mondays protest. Can Moral Mondays Produce Victorious Tuesdays?

Comment by wickedpam on 01/19/2015 18:00:34
Quote by Raine:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
MTV, MLK FAIL


I'm not understanding the point to being in black and white - why not just have the discussion without the gimmick?
It seems rather condescending and pointless.


Well it is MTV - they lost relevance a long while ago.


Comment by wickedpam on 01/19/2015 18:01:43
Quote by Will in Chicago:
Quote by Raine:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
MTV, MLK FAIL


I'm not understanding the point to being in black and white - why not just have the discussion without the gimmick?
It seems rather condescending and pointless.



So, is most of what passes for entertainment.

I hope that everyone is well.

I have some sad news. My sister-in-law's Dad passed away at age 76 on his birthday. He was found without a pulse on Saturday night in his nursing home. He was revived, but the higher brain functions were gone.

Thank you all for your kind words and condolences.


Sorry for your family's loss Will.

Comment by Raine on 01/19/2015 18:40:42
Billy from Texas on Thom's show.

Comment by wickedpam on 01/19/2015 18:41:10
Comment by Will in Chicago on 01/19/2015 18:46:02
Quote by wickedpam:


Putin Action Figure!


Russia - no longer Communist but still authoritarian and inefficient. (Paraphrase of a Babylon 5 quote.)

Comment by livingonli on 01/19/2015 18:55:07
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
MTV, MLK FAIL


I'm not understanding the point to being in black and white - why not just have the discussion without the gimmick?
It seems rather condescending and pointless.


Well it is MTV - they lost relevance a long while ago.

When they stopped showing music videos and mostly showed crappy reality shows I stopped tuning in.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 01/19/2015 19:09:32
Quote by livingonli:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
MTV, MLK FAIL


I'm not understanding the point to being in black and white - why not just have the discussion without the gimmick?
It seems rather condescending and pointless.


Well it is MTV - they lost relevance a long while ago.

When they stopped showing music videos and mostly showed crappy reality shows I stopped tuning in.


I guess MTV now standards for Mediocre Television.

Comment by Raine on 01/19/2015 19:11:18
Comment by trojanrabbit on 01/19/2015 19:28:53
Quote by Raine:
WTF, New England?!?!


Um....no. It's WTF some pissant sportswriter from Indy seeing the refs exchange balls at the beginning of the Pats 2nd half drive (because they hadn't swapped out the "kicking" ball yet) and thinking there's something nefarious going on.

I suppose the Pats deflated the balls each of the other 3 times they schooled the Colts.

Comment by Raine on 01/19/2015 21:20:42
Quote by trojanrabbit:
Quote by Raine:
WTF, New England?!?!


Um....no. It's WTF some pissant sportswriter from Indy seeing the refs exchange balls at the beginning of the Pats 2nd half drive (because they hadn't swapped out the "kicking" ball yet) and thinking there's something nefarious going on.

I suppose the Pats deflated the balls each of the other 3 times they schooled the Colts.