Happy MLK Jr. Day
That is ALL that is happening today
This will be a short one.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day across the US.
Well— kinda. On a day that a Rac(p)ist will be inaugurated to the presidency, some states want to further pick at open wounds and just be downright hateful by making this terrible day worse.
The cruelty is the point and they will only get more cruel as time goes on. Not trying to be dark..just real.
They hate us, and if you like this substack they don’t like you much either. Thems the rules.
But today I do want to at least mention the work of Martin Luther King Jr. but not the speeches you think about or the fake love and admiration you see online today.
But first a quick note from his daughter, Dr. Bernice King:
We have to remember his teachings but ALSO realize that a lot of the people you see post things are going to take cute little snippets or things they think sound good but completely miss or be ignorant to what he actually stood for.
Oh and don’t take my word for it..again this is from his daughter:
We often gloss over the fact that he was one of the most hated men in America at the time. Very rarely does challenging the status quo and hatred and racism in America equal popularity. It often comes with attacks both physically and mentally.
The FBI was monitoring his every phone call. He and Malcom X were closely monitored with everything they did and always a target of hate and violence.
I admire Martin Luther King Jr. not just because of his words and actions but because of his perseverance. It is far easier to think about it than to talk about it and much easier to talk about it than to be about it. He was all of that.
So many ‘leaders’ today pick one or the other. There are also so many you never heard of because they were taken from us way too soon or chased away for their efforts. I was ignorant to so many of these great leaders until I took Politics of the Black Community with Dr.
and became motivated to emulate what they possessed. And in that pursuit I, too, have been attacked and targeted. And I am a nobody.I am a LONG way from any of them but I want to do better and honestly feel like a failure days like this—where I wonder what could I have done more in my community to help prevent or mitigate where we are today?
But today— I encourage everyone to think about the real legacy of Dr. King and the battle we know is coming. Ignore what happens at noon. I am going to watch a Black movie led by and starring Black women during the time of this klan rally and I encourage you to do something besides succumb to the terrors of the next 4 years.
We got this…