Shucking Oysters: King Would Have a Nightmare
By Alex Allen
“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…From every mountainside, let freedom ring…And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.”
August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr delivered perhaps the most powerful speech ever: “I Have a Dream.” Today, his January 15th birthday is recognized on the third Monday in January. King was the kind of leader who comes along once in a lifetime. With no surprise, he was assassinated April 4, 1968, one of four tragic and still questionable assassinations during the 60s in the United States (President John F. Kennedy, African American activist Malcolm X, and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy).
And so, it was with great irony, that last year Trump made his Inauguration Speech on Martin Luther King Day. The weather worked in his favour. Due to freezing temperatures and high winds, it was held inside the Capitol rotunda, known for its grand scale and marble flooring. “To the Black and Hispanic communities, I want to thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love and trust that you have shown me with your vote. We set records and I will not forget it…Today is Martin Luther King Day. And … in his honor, we will strive together to make his dream a reality. We will make his dream come true.” Really?? Yes, we know you’ve been busy, but still.
During the Civil Rights Movement, leaders and activists demanded not only change but a better world. They marched for it. They were arrested for it. They died for it. Nothing has changed. Martin Luther King Day is a day when American politicians pretend to care about the life and legacy of one of the wisest souls who had the audacity to try to make America great.
Take President Trump (will someone please?), who after signing a bill turning King’s birthplace into a national park, days later referred to El Salvador, Haiti and all countries in Africa as “shit hole countries.”
If Martin Luther King was alive today, he would be 96 years old and have lived through many difficult times. He could have been a diplomat, written a few best-sellers and done the talk show circuit. He might have appeared on SNL and wrote a cookbook. But if he wrote his “I Have a Dream” speech today, would it be the same?
His speech was not just about African American rights; it was about human dignity and compassion. King’s dream was a powerful reminder that the struggle for equality is not just a racial issue but a human one, where everyone must be recognized as equal and deserving of respect.
King urged his people to “not be guilty of wrongful deeds…not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” He highlighted the importance of nonviolence in pursuing social change. He encouraged people to rise above hatred and resentment. “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” It is at this horrific juncture that all Americans should heed his words.
Imagine what Martin Luther King would say about the killing of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter. Imagine what King would do about the sheer cruelty of ICE and the Trump Administration. Imagine King watching the video of “domestic terrorist” Renee Good being shot three times in the face for trying to get out of the way. Imagine.
Now imagine what the Department of War would do to King when he spoke out against the US in Vietnam. Homeland Security would surely have locked him up when he said “if we continue, there will be no doubt in my mind and in the mind of the world that we have no honorable intentions in Vietnam” and that “the world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve.” Nothing has changed.
And only in America…On the first federal Martin Luther King Day in 1986, a Washington, DC radio DJ, Doug “Greaseman” Tracht suggested that if they kill four more they could have the whole week off. His disgusting sentiment highlights the systemic racism in the US, particularly in the Southern states. Tracht apologized to his listeners and apparently that was enough because he still kept his job.
Then in February 1999 karma finally reared it’s ugly head. After playing the song “Doo Wop (That Thing)” by Black hip-hop artist Lauryn Hill, Tracht shared on air, “No wonder people drag them behind trucks.” The comment was in reference to the unfathomable 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr, an African-American man who was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to death by white supremacists in Jasper, Texas. This was 27 years ago people. 27 years – the average age of an Influencer today.
The public outcry finally led to Tracht being suspended and subsequently fired. He also lost his position as a volunteer deputy sheriff in Falls Church, Virginia, a town rich in colonial history. Tracht eventually apologized, calling his comment a grave error in judgment and a result of “mindless stupidity.” One has to wonder what mindful stupidity would look like.
Americans have a talent for rewriting history. In 1967 in reference to the Vietnam war, King warned us: “Don’t let anybody make you think God chose America as His divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.” Nothing has changed.
And if we truly were judged by the content of our character and not the colour of our skin, the US President, Vice President, and all the uncivil Officers of the United States would be charged with treason, bribery, hate crime and other horrific misdemeanours. Meanwhile, in honour of Martin Luther King Jr, please take a moment to listen to “King” by UB40 and dream the impossible dream.
