President Obama gave an eloquent speech at the Martin Luther King Memorial Dedication, but he shrank King to suit his own purposes.It is more than ironic that a black icon of the civil rights movement has been so embraced by polite white society. Just like Malcolm X, King's legacy has been truncated to match with prevailing sensibilities.
He focused on the convenient King — the “I Have a Dream” King — and he touched on King’s commitment to economic justice. But he omitted the pastor’s role in opposing militarism and imperialism. He minimized King, the champion of peace, and he not only didn’t mention that King envisioned a world beyond nationalism; Obama actually used the occasion to extol America’s greatness.
~ from Obama Shrinks Martin Luther King at Memorial Dedication by Matthew Rothschild ~
Both men are remembered for their early years of activism -- King positively and Malcolm X negatively -- because the evolution in their thought makes white progressives uncomfortable. It's one thing to lionize them for their opposition to American apartheid because we supposedly slew that dragon eons ago -- yeh, right! -- but, since the US continues to be gripped within the clutches of the military-industrial complex, that portion of their message still strikes too close to home!!
It's even more ironic -- in some ways, not others -- that the nation's first black president would invoke the same narrow view of Dr. King.
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