On Civil Rights Leaders That Are Loved and Conveniently Dead
Posted 3 October, 2007 at 1:54 am by Kevin
Filed Under Racism |
David Schraub, over at the Debate Link, has an excellent post up in response to my Elliott’s Law post.
Sphere: Related ContentMany contemporary anti-racism activists have expressed frustration in the way MLK–and indeed, the entire 60s civil rights movement–has been “neutered” so as to mask just how radical and revolutionary its agenda was (and, by extension, how far short we fell from achieving it). I’ve noticed, along with this, a meme that floats around the conservative right that tries to split the “good” civil rights activists of the 60s, whose cause was laudable and just (though not, it’s worth noting, during the 60s themselves, as anyone who has read National Review articles from that time knows) from the next generation of Black leaders, who are charlatans and “race-baiters.”((I have to add that I see the same meme being floated amongst many “progressives” and “liberals” as well)) Dr. King is the emblem of the former group, and perhaps its only political member; virtually no other civil rights pioneer of that era gets similar treatment. Dr. King serves as an apt model because he is quite conveniently dead, and thus unable to take positions that might be inopportune for his more conservative supporters. Had he not been assassinated, I firmly believe that White America would not have accorded King his current valorized status, for the precise reason that it would have been that much more difficult to mythologize his legacy if he was alive to contest it. Hence we have the title of the post: The only “good” civil rights leaders is, quite literally, a dead one.
Tags: Jena Six, U.S. History
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5 Responses to “On Civil Rights Leaders That Are Loved and Conveniently Dead”
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Kevin, aka The Thin Black Duke.
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It seems to me that there is a circular logic which connects the widespread (among white America) misconception that the civil rights movement of the 60s succeed in “ending” racism and this artificial dichotomy between MLK and contemporary anti-racism activists. That is, the purported end of racism leaves no valid cause with which these contemporary activists can engage. Lacking valid cause, these activists must simply be self-promoters looking to cash in on the legacy of MLK’s “finished” movement. Thus, a platform emerges for establishing a disconnect between these supposedly separate movements and retroactively de-radicalizing the older movement. This platform can then be used in itself to reinforce the logic of racism’s end. Pernicious.
On the issue of “special rights,” another interesting way in which the 60s civil rights movement’s radical legacy has been subsequently defused by the right (and specifically in this case the white Christian right) is in the effort to pit MLK’s successes against subsequen queer civil rights movements. Not to say that queer issues regularly received widespread support or attention within the race-focused movments of the 60s, but white right-wing anti-queer groups have for some time been attempting specifically to gather Black support by preaching the notion that queer movements are corrupting MLKs legacy by even engaging in a discourse of “civil rights.”
As I recall, there is some discussion of this issue here:
http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Liaisons-Blacks-Struggle-Equality/dp/1 565844556
Word. “you do know he was against the war” is one my new favorite questions these days.
Thursday Blogwhoring…
by matttbastard
(Inspired by Melissa McEwen)
bastard-approved blogreading for a quiet Thursday evening:
Plucky Punk: Meanwhile…
Angry Black Bitch: By Request - A new book…another cure?
Impolitical: Stephen Harper is not a cowboy
The Heretik…
[...] enlightened for their ability to retroactively support the Civil Rights movement and to quote safely dead anti-racist icons, even though their present-day physical, intellectual, and political orbits remain mostly [...]
[...] enlightened for their ability to retroactively support the Civil Rights movement and to quote safely dead anti-racist icons, even though their present-day physical, intellectual, and political orbits remain mostly [...]