ColorOfChange.org Applauds Plea Deal in Jena 6 Case

This is what can happen when folks get organized.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, June 26, 2009

ColorOfChange.org applauds plea deal in Jena 6 case

Online civil rights group raised more than $275,000 for legal defense

Oakland, CA- The organization that led the online mobilization in support of the Jena Six today applauded news that five of the young men have pleaded no contest to greatly reduced charges–a development the group called a just resolution to the racially-charged case. Though the defendants had initially been charged with attempted murder and conspiracy, they ultimately pleaded no contest to simple battery, and will serve a sentence of just 7 days of probation.

ColorOfChange.org said Friday that the plea deal marked an acknowledgement by officials that the Louisiana justice system initially treated the then-teenage boys too harshly, privileging white students’ accounts of a schoolyard fight over those of black students in the largely segregated town of Jena.

“Today’s plea deal shows that the original charges in the case were unfair and vastly overblown,” said James Rucker, ColorOfChange.org’s executive director. “The story of the Jena 6 was an extreme example of what can happen when a justice system biased against black boys operates unchecked. But it’s also an example of what can happen when hundreds of thousands of people across the country stand up to challenge unequal justice. Together, we drew the country’s attention to this case and raised the money necessary to fund a strong legal defense.”

ColorOfChange.org, the first national organization involved in supporting the Jena 6, was instrumental in drawing national attention to the case, working alongside local activists in Jena and black bloggers across the country to spread word of the excessive charges and the story behind them.

More than 300,000 ColorOfChange.org members signed petitions to elected officials, urging that the charges be dropped and that then-Governor Kathleen Blanco intervene. The group organized more than 10,000 of its members to march in Jena on September 20, 2007. The same day, thousands of members in over 150 cities across the country held rallies and vigils and distributed flyers about the case; they also made more than 6,000 phone calls to public officials in Louisiana.

ColorOfChange members also contributed more than $275,000 toward high-quality legal teams, which succeeded in getting a biased judge removed from the cases and ultimately achieved today’s victory.

Rucker said that the collective effort–joined by bloggers, black radio personalities, and national and Louisiana-based activists–turned the tide in favor of the young men.

The sixth teenager charged, Mychal Bell, pleaded guilty to battery in juvenile court on December 3rd, 2007.

With more than half a million members, ColorOfChange.org is the largest African-American online political organization in the country.

Racists Sue Jena

Jena has really brought the white supremacists out of the woodwork. This is obviously nothing but a ploy to get more folks to openly support their cause. I can hear the misinformed cries of “why do the blacks get special treatment?” already.

White Supremacist Group Sues Town of Jena

JENA, La. (AP) — A white separatist group planning a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Jena is suing the town, claiming officials are violating the Constitution by asking participants not to bring firearms, changing the parade route by one block and requiring the posting of a bond.

The Nationalist Movement filed the federal lawsuit Dec. 14 and is seeking a temporary restraining order to keep the town from interfering with the Learned, Miss.-based group’s “Jena Justice Day” rally. Group officials claim the town’s rules violate their 14th Amendment rights to due process.

Plea Deal for Mychal Bell May Be the Beginning of the End For the Jena Six

Via Leftist Looney Lunchbox and Dallas South Blog.

The Chicago Tribune’s Howard Witt writes:

The district attorney in the racially-charged Jena 6 case in Louisiana agreed to a plea bargain Monday that sharply reduced the charges against the first of the six black teenagers who was facing trial, while attorneys for other defendants said the prosecutor appeared eager to settle their cases as well.

LaSalle Parish District Atty. Reed Walters, whose initial decision to charge the black teenagers with attempted murder for beating a white youth was condemned as excessive by civil rights leaders, dropped a conspiracy charge against Mychal Bell, 17, and agreed to let him plead guilty to a juvenile charge of second-degree battery, with a sentence of 18 months and credit for time he has served in jail.

District Judge J.P. Mauffray approved the plea agreement Monday afternoon, just three days before Bell’s trial in juvenile court was to have begun. Bell’s attorneys said Walters offered them the plea agreement Thursday, a week after a coalition of U.S. media companies, led by the Chicago Tribune, successfully sued Mauffray to force him to open the trial to the public and the press.

“This case has been a very difficult chapter in the town’s life and for the individuals involved,” said David Utter, an attorney for another of the Jena 6 defendants who was charged as a juvenile. “My sense is that the district attorney would like to close this chapter now.”

Utter and attorneys for several other Jena 6 defendants confirmed that they were engaged in plea negotiations with the district attorney, heralding a potential conclusion to the controversial case that drew more than 20,000 protesters to Jena in September and earned the small Louisiana town a portrayal by civil rights leaders and the national media as a racist backwater.

Internalized sexism at least a hundred times more prevalent in women of color than internalized racism

[Originally posted at Leftist Looney Lunchbox. Any comments should be left there.]

Ann went to town on sexist men of color at Rachel’s after I did of course and I wanted her to have (her) last (magnificent) word.

But I want to finish a thought.

Since I was a teenager, I noticed APIA women did not speak out against sexism of APIA men. They were in denial or made excuses. I noticed this in college, too, among women of color.

Women of color are a hundred times more likely to condone or enable the sexism of men of color than they are to condone or enable the racism of whites.

In other words, women of color are a hundred times more likely to speak out against racism than they are to speak out against the sexism of men of color.

Even though most rape and domestic violence occurs within the community. You see this pattern in real life and online.

Today is the perfect example:

How many women of color do you think turned up for the huge Jena Six/Hate Crimes march on DC today compared to the protest for crimes against women of color? (Details and commentary on both protests below.)

You can bet your life there were at least a hundred times more women of color at the first protest than at the second.

You can also bet your life there were at least a hundred times more women of color at the Jena Six protest in Jena, Louisiana than at the Megan Williams protest in Charleston, West Virginia.

Woman of color feminism (this can be NA/APIA/black/Latina feminism) is generally about two things:

1. ending the racism of whites
2. ending the sexism of men of color

bell hooks said people of color must repeatedly speak out against sexism in communities of color and

Until this silence is repeatedly broken, NAs/Asians/blacks/Latinos will never be able to constructively address issues of positive gender identity formation, domestic violence, rape, incest, or NA/Asian/black/Latino male-on-male violence.

The next time a woman or man of color says the words “internalized racism,” think about how neither the woman nor man of color in the same conversation has ever spoken out against the sexism of men of color. Perhaps even about the sexism of the man in the conversation.

Then speak out about sexism in your community.

Visible women of color feminisms are the only way we can end sexism, rape, domestic violence and sexual harrassment in our communities because white feminists do not speak out for us.

Crooks and Liars:

Jena 6/Hate Crime protests in DC

There’s a huge turnout in DC today as thousands of African Americans marched on the Justice Department to demand racial equality from the justice system spurred on by the Jena 6 case. CNN does a nice job with its coverage today. The new AG, Mukasey was forced to respond and you can hear what he had to say in the video.

Jena Six’ case sparks march on DC

Marchers surrounded the Justice Department headquarters on Friday to demand federal intervention in the “Jena Six” case and enforcement of hate crimes against those who hang nooses in public. On a chilly but clear day, busloads of people packed a downtown plaza seeking a big government response to small town injustices…

What About Our Daughters?:

DUNBAR VILLAGE COUNTER PROTEST MAKES USAToday! – Picture of BlkSeaGoat Included – YOU GO BOY!

What About Our Daughters?:

In case you have not heard, there is a protest scheduled today in front of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC about hate crimes. A WAOD reader, Shane, has organized a “counter protest” of the protest. But “counter protest” is an inartful way to describe what is going to take place today because “counter” implies that Shane is against the stated goals of the original protest. That is not true he probably agrees with the folk getting on charter buses to march in DC. So instead of “counter protest” a better way to describe what Shane has organized is “a very public CONVERSATION.” Folks are coming to DC for a monologue well Shane just made it a dialog and some people are in a uproar that he would dare have such a dialog on the streets of DC during their carefully crafted protest. You see, with the same fervor that some folks hundreds of years ago believe that the earth was flat, they believe that Black folks can’t have a VERY PUBLIC CONVERSATION without the whole of Black America imploding on the spot, instantaneously. We survived the Middle Passage, Slavery, Jim Crow and flavor of Love, but what we cannot survive, to some folks, is a VERY PUBLIC CONVERSATION!

There is a lot I do not know right now, but one thing I DO KNOW is that Black American can survive a CONVERSATION. In fact, we’ll be better for it. What we cannot survive is continued SILENCE. This craving for SILENCE for the sake of UNITY is killing us literally.

So everybody chill out. Today is a great day for Black America. Today we will have concrete proof that we can have a public CONVERSATION and a public “engagement” and Black America will survive and thrive.

bell hooks said there’s a difference between unity that sweeps differences under the rug and community which celebrates differences.

USAToday:

When demonstrators rally on the steps of the U.S. Justice Department Friday to protest the government’s handling of hate crimes, blogger-turned-activist Shane Johnson will be waiting for them with a protest of his own.

Johnson and a modest band of supporters are pushing back against the outpouring of black support for black male offenders, such as the Jena 6, saying it comes at the expense of female victims of black-on-black crime.

The group is leading a Jena 6-like grass-roots movement through e-mails, blogs and rallies. It wants to call national attention to the beating and rape of a 35-year-old Haitian woman and the beating and sexual assault of her 12-year-old son by up to 10 assailants in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Johnson organized the rally after he read about the assault on the blog, “What About Our Daughters?” He questions why national black leaders and black media who supported the Jena 6 and the alleged victim in the Duke lacrosse case have ignored the Dunbar Village attack, in which the mother, son and alleged attackers are black.

Gina McCauley, an Austin attorney who runs the blog “What About Our Daughters?,” a site devoted to fighting stereotypes of black women in popular culture, says the Florida case has garnered little national attention because “we don’t value the lives of black women.”

Actually, the Jersey Four case is more like Jena Six because they’re about unequal justice. The Jersey Four are IN PRISON AS WE SPEAK for defending themselves. Sexism in communities of color is one thing, homophobia another. Dwayne Buckle made sexist and homophobic remarks not because of racism but lack of feminist education which is why woman of color feminism is critical to liberation.

Michael Baisden Attacks Color of Change

Michael Baisden is a popular radio show host. I’ve listened to his show once or twice while driving from the airport or something. It’s your standard love and relationships thing, complete with all the gross generalizations about men and women that you can imagine. It’s not my thing. However, he has done a lot of work for the Jena Six, and for that he should be commended.

Well now, it turns out that he has attacked the reputable online advocacy group Color of Change, calling James Rucker, the founder, “shady,”and bringing Mychal Bell’s father, Marcus Jones, on air accusing them of not giving the money they’ve raised to the Jena Six. Fortunately, Color of Change is on top of their game and were quick to provide proof that they have been nothing but honorable in their handling of Jena Six donations.

Here are the facts:

• ColorOfChange.org has disbursed $210,809.90 of the $212,039.90 collected as of the last reporting period (October 4th). These distributions cover all invoices we’ve received from the young men’s legal teams to date. $33,150.00 was sent to Louis Scott, Marcus Jones’ son’s lawyer on October 7th (Scott was able to request $35,339.98 but only provided an invoice for $33,150).

  Here are images of the deposited checks to the defense teams, proving they received the funds.

• The Jena 6 families are all aware of how we raise money and how we distribute it. We make payments to their attorneys at the families’ sole direction. Within 24 hours of receiving written authorization from the family, along with an invoice from an attorney, we send checks for up to 1/6 of the total amount donated.

  Here are the authorizations signed by the families, starting with Marcus Jones’.

• Michael Baisden claims to have a letter signed by all the Jena 6 families that implies that ColorOfChange.org is acting against the wishes of the families. This is false. One parent who signed the letter says that it made no mention of ColorOfChange whatsoever. Two families say they did not sign the letter at all.

  Here is an email sent to Michael Baisden’s team by one of the parents who did not sign the letter, asking to see a copy of the letter.

• ColorOfChange.org is known by all the Jena 6 families. Our executive director, James Rucker, has met with the families on at least five occasions in Jena and has positive relationships with all of them, with the exception of Marcus Jones.

  Michael Baisden’s staff know this, because we put them in touch with Jena 6 families with whom they had no relationship.

• Michael Baisden and his staff know the facts. James Rucker has talked with Baisden directly, as well as Pamela Exum and Yvonne Gilliam who work for Michael Baisden. From the start, we have explained our procedures to Baisden and his staff; we had them verify payments were received by lawyers; we had them verify our process with the lawyers and families–it was in response to an inquiry they started, driven by Marcus Jones’ accusations almost two months ago.

  In mid-October, Yvonne Gilliam, who works for Baisden indicated by phone that every lawyer she’d contacted had received their checks.

• Marcus Jones stated that David Bowie contributed $10,000 to ColorOfChange.org’s fund and Baisden let the accusation stand. Bowie’s contribution was made to the NAACP for Jena 6 legal defense and was widely reported–ColorOfChange.org never came in contact with this donation. A link to the NAACP’s press release about that donation is here: http://www.naacp.org/news/press/2007-09-18/index.htm.
   
• Michael Baisden has shown a reckless disregard for the truth. Marcus Jones has been making false allegations about us for months. However, responsible journalists check facts and then report accordingly. We’ve fielded inquiries from CNN, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Black America Web, and others, based on Marcus Jones’ allegations–they all concluded the claims were without merit and refused to give him a stage to speak.

  Despite knowing the reality of how ColorOfChange has managed the fundraising and distribution process, Baisden has joined with Jones in launching baseless attacks.

• ColorOfChange.org exists for one reason: to organize and amplify the political voice of Black America and our allies. Michael Baisden claims to share this goal but he is using his show to recklessly attack an organization that has a clear record of doing the real work he claims is important, in Jena and beyond.

Unfortunately, Michael Baisden has yet to apologize or invite the Color of Change on air to clear this mess up. [Edit on 10 November 2007: Michael Baisden has offered an apology to the Color of Change. It's a weak apology, in my opinion, and doesn't even begin to address the full extent of the harm he has caused, but I'm going to give him credit for at least acknowledging that he spread information that was not true.]

My question is why? Why is this type of slander even necessary. Why damage the movement that so many people have worked so hard to build by throwing around baseless accusations? I think that Andre Banks is on to something here. I like what he has to say:

For weeks Baisden has been baiting listeners with a salacious “breaking news” story about the thieves of the Jena 6. He billed the whole thing like he was breaking “Jena Gate”: “Tune in tomorrow. I’m gonna name names!” (I bet the advertisers and up and ups at ABC Networks who distributes the show nationally just loooved that shameless ratings grab).

But what held him up? He said on Monday’s show he’s been talking to Jones for months. Why hold this story? Why not bring the vigilantes to justice? Of course, it was the facts that actually slowed him down. All the documentation I mentioned above was available to Baisden and the show’s producers. They had the paper trail and other family members tried to talk to them and dispute the claims. They knew Jena-Gate was a lie when they let Jones on the air this week. But they simply didn’t care. This isn’t Black politics. On “Love, Lust and Lies” it’s all Black entertainment.

When I listened closely, I realized that Baisden never actually verbalized the accusations himself. While he spoke in vague condemnations, he let Marcus Jones actually do the naming of names he’d talked up. So, while the ethics department may be out to lunch, we can rest assured that the lawyers at ABC radio are paying enough attention to make sure that Baisden didn’t get slapped with a libel suit. At least not right away…

This is a bit of a rant, but I think it’s important to make this story clear because it actually isn’t only about defending Color of Change. I do support their work around Jena and beyond and think they’re serious about building a base of engaged Black people with a progressive vision. Much more so than the usual civil rights suspects. But I also hear the bell tolling around a larger fight: Through Baisden, the corporate media is pimping a fake scandal for ratings at the expense of a serious, progressive Black political agenda – all while claiming to be the authentic, if not only, voice for the community.

This story is about corporate media, fronted with Black faces, undermining not only an organization, but a successful attempt to change the conversation about race, criminalization and Black communities. Baisden is exploiting Black peoples’ reasonable skepticism around institutions – every one in this country has hustled us in one way or another – to make us feel like when we stood up for something profound and won a real victory, we’d simply been had. Our contribution made in vain. So when the next campaign comes around and legal defense is needed, he’ll have helped turn the bit of optimism generated by Jena to a jaded, empty cynicism. And for what? A larger share of the drive-time audience?

Thankfully, Baisden does have a solution. You can give him your money. Next week he’s setting up a fund so his one million listeners can raise $1,000,000 in one day to go into his own coffers.

I’ll be surprised if we can view his canceled checks online…

Chris Rabb nails what is really at stake here as well:

Many entrenched Negroes who have poo-pooed those of us in the Black netroots community as lap dogs of “white liberal activists” (read: MoveOn.org), are afraid that they will have to become accountable to the rhetoric they have almost begun to believe after all these years without the antiseptic of transparency.

The reality is, Afro-Netizen need not name names in this regard. But toward interested readers doing their own research on who’s promoting whose agenda, as my late hell-raising activist maternal grandmother (inspiring the moniker “Geronimo” by Baltimore politicos) liked to remind me sternly: “Consider the source!” (Not unlike the ever sanguine pearl: “Follow the money.”)

This is why media literacy is so important to disadvantaged communities who do not genuinely control their own media. Because if we knew who owns what and what they are are about, the current and future Baisden-like fiascoes would be taken for what they are: distractions from the much larger threat of media consolidation at the expense of widening and amplifying the diverse, autonomous voices of communities color.

And for all the good things Baisden may have said or done around Jena and other salient issues, if you haven’t heard him mention “media literacy”, “media consolidation” or “media justice”, now you know why.

See also:

Eddie G. Griffin
Jack and Jill Politics
Friends of Justice
Exodus Mentality
African American Political Opinion
Dallas South Blog

Send an email to Baisden’s producers and ABC Radio asking him to be held accountable for his baseless accusations.

Color of Change’s letter sent to all members:

Dear ColorOfChange.org member,

A national Black radio host is making reckless and false allegations that threaten to undermine the credibility of ColorOfChange.org. We want you to know the facts. And then we need your help to stop this attempt to defame what we’ve built together.

Over the last few months, radio personality Michael Baisden has repeatedly implied that ColorOfChange was improperly handling money collected for Jena 6 legal defense. On Monday and Tuesday he outright attacked us.

Baisden’s claims and suggestions are completely false, and he and his staff know it. After you’ve read the facts below, can you take a moment to send Michael Baisden and his producers an email asking that he publicly apologize for slandering the movement we’ve built together?

You can listen to the damaging segments of the show, review the facts, and send him a message here:

http://colorofchange.org/baisden/

The real story about your donations

Since July, 17th, ColorOfChange members have donated $212,039.90 for the legal defense of the Jena 6, six Black boys being unjustly railroaded by the criminal justice system in Jena, Louisiana. ColorOfChange has already sent $210,809.90 to the six legal teams defending these young men. You can view the cancelled checks here:
 
http://colorofchange.org/jena/baisden/documentation/checks.html

On Michael Baisden’s show this week, Mychal Bell’s father, Marcus Jones, made allegations on air that the Jena 6 families have had no contact with ColorOfChange and that we do not have their authorization to collect money. It’s simply not true. ColorOfChange has had contact with all of the families for several months. A member of each family has signed a letter authorizing the payments from our defense fund to their attorneys. This includes Marcus Jones. Marcus also asked us on air to stop fundraising for the Jena 6, and implied that he speaks for all of the families, but he does not – none of the other families have said they want this. All but Marcus are thankful and appreciative. Michael Baisden knows all this, yet he provided a forum for this attack and backed it up. You can view the authorization letters, and the full details, here:

http://colorofchange.org/jena/baisden/facts.html
 
ColorOfChange has not taken a single penny of these funds, not even for overhead or administrative costs. We absorb all the fees from every transaction, ensuring that every dollar donated goes directly to legal defense. Aside from the latest donations that are still being processed, every penny that has come in to help these young men is in the hands of lawyers who have been fighting hard to achieve justice.
 
Baisden has the facts, so why is he on the attack?
 
Michael Baisden and his staff know the facts. As early as September, we explained our procedures to Baisden and his staff. In October, we helped them contact the families and lawyers so that they could verify for themselves that the money was being distributed. By mid-October, Yvonne Gilliam, who works for Baisden, indicated by phone that every lawyer she’d contacted had properly received their checks from us.
 
So why does Baisden resort to slandering us on the air now, after seeing for himself exactly how funds were managed? He’s promoting his own fundraising effort this week and is trying to position himself as the only trustworthy source for fundraising around the Jena 6. He’s stated explicitly that he started his fund because he thinks other efforts are untrustworthy. Discrediting us is a great way to promote himself and his fund.

But there is no excuse for his behavior, especially from someone who claims to be part of a movement.

We hope Baisden can raise a lot of money for the Jena 6. The families need all the help they can get. But when someone with his reach builds himself up by spreading slanderous accusations about an organization doing innovative and powerful work on behalf of the Jena 6, it damages the entire movement. And it must be called out.

Defending the movement you’ve built
 
ColorOfChange.org started in 2005 with outrage, tears and a laptop computer. Our hearts were broken by what was happening in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. So we set up a website and emailed a petition to our friends. We realized we had struck a chord, so we decided to keep going. And it’s a good thing we did. Because in just two short years, ColorOfChange.org has become a powerful tool and resource — the largest Black-led online advocacy organization in the world, with nearly 400,000 members. And its because of your voice that we are here today, stronger than ever.

Never before have Black people and our allies had the ability to aggregate our power and our dollars online in such a powerful way. By mobilizing your concern and your dollars when the justice system attacked Black children, we have demonstrated conclusively that all of us working together can impact the courtroom – and the court of public opinion. By flexing our collective power, we have sent a clear message that it is a new day for racial justice in this country.

Baisden’s baseless attack could harm our ability to do this work. We need your help now so that we can continue to be effective advocates for the Jena 6, and for other issues important to Black America.

You can help, here:

http://colorofchange.org/baisden/

Thank You and Peace,

— James, Van, Clarissa, Gabriel, Mervyn, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
   November 8th, 2007

John Mellencamp Gets Jena Mayor’s Goat

Jena Mayor Calls Song Inflammatory

JENA, La. (AP) — A video in which rapper-actor Mos Def asked students around the country to walk out Oct. 1 to support the “Jena Six” escaped comment by this town’s mayor. But when John Mellencamp sang, “Jena, take your nooses down,” he took issue.

“The town of Jena has for months been mischaracterized in the media and portrayed as the epicenter of hatred, racism and a place where justice is denied,” Jena Mayor Murphy R. McMillin wrote in a statement on town letterhead faxed on Friday to The Associated Press.

He said he had previously stayed quiet, hoping that the town’s courtesy to people who have visited over the past year would speak for itself. “However, the Mellencamp video is so inflammatory, so defamatory, that a line has been crossed and enough is enough.”

Mellencamp could not comment immediately because he was on a plane from California to Indiana and had not heard about McMillin’s comments, publicist Bob Merlis said late Friday.

A brief note from Mellencamp posted Thursday on his Web site says he is telling a story, not reporting. “The song is not written as an indictment of the people of Jena but, rather, as a condemnation of racism,” it says.

It’s a stretch to say that Jena has been portrayed “as the epicenter of hatred, racism and a place where justice is denied,” although obviously there are elements of all three taking place in this situation. What the official faces of Jena fail to realize is that Jena is The United States of America for many people of color. This goes beyond Jena. Jena is indicative of the firmly entrenched systems of institutionalized racism that still rears its ugly head not only in the criminal justice system, but in most aspects of People of Color’s lives. It’s fair to say that most People of Color in America, that most of the folks that are protesting the treatment of the Jena Six the loudest, understand that what happened in Jena can happen anywhere in the United States.

On Civil Rights Leaders That Are Loved and Conveniently Dead

David Schraub, over at the Debate Link, has an excellent post up in response to my Elliott’s Law post.

Many 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.