Thinking about MLK JR.
Much has been written about the 40th Anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. While watching PBS last night, a forum discussing “would King be happy with the progress we have made today a’la race relations” was on and really informative. The conclusion was mixed. Edward Blum, who was in Houston to guide a seminar at the University of Houston made an interesting comment which I find to be true: He stated that while growing up many of his white friends only knew two things about Dr. King: 1.) His I Have a Dream Speech; and 2.) he had multiple affairs. Of late, there has been much discussion that he plagiarized his doctoral dissertation; I am not so sure about that. After all, it is easy to make reference mistakes….I will not get stuck on this point.
Here are a few interesting discussions about Dr. King’s 40th anniversary from a couple of blogs I read:
April 6, 2008 at 9:41 am
I liberated a Time Magazine from the seat back pocket of one of my airplanes, within which was an essay by Michael Eric Dyson in which he discusses the complicated question of King’s legacy, both through white and black perspectives. When I’m back home (and with some time for transcription), I’d like to enter a dialogue about that with you…
I can tell you one thing for sure, though - most of MY students have heard OF the I Have a Dream speech, but 9 out of 10 have never actually HEARD it….
April 6, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Hi, Edward. Thank you for linking to my blog post on Dr. King.
Speaking of Dr. Michael Eric Dyson: He is this month’s featured guest on C-Span’s Book TV, Sunday, April 6th from 12 noon - 3p.m. I also link to a Newsweek interview with Dr. Dyson in my blog post.
April 6, 2008 at 9:38 pm
I like Dyson. He is a modern intellectual who has borrowed from the King and West fairly well. I saw the link to Dyson; I will look for his C-Span talk today.
As for a discussion about Dyson, that sounds great to me. I have only read one of his books; however, I have read a number of hort op ed pieces. The I have a dream speech is pretty packed, but is is his Letter from a Birmingham Jail that is really powerful.
April 9, 2008 at 7:08 am
MLK had multiple affairs? I did not know that… maybe I’m not really white?
April 9, 2008 at 8:33 am
Probably not! We need to know this so that we can increase our diversity numbers. I hope you are a brother. Maybe this is why I like you.