Despite not dedicating the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on Sunday as planned because of Hurricane Irene, that fact that King will be the first non-president enshrined on the Mall is a perplexing event. It is perplexing because King was arguably one of the most hated people in America when he died at the hands of an assassin’s bullet. In his last year of his life—which starts April 4, 1967, with his “Vietnam” speech and ends April 3, 1968 with his “Mountain Top” speech—King’s prophetic persona had shifted from an optimistic prophet to a pessimistic one. He would call America a “sick society,” and had he lived, would have preached a sermon titled, “Why America May Go to Hell,” on Easter Sunday. He had long since moved from “I Have a Dream,” and started using Malcolm’s language of “nightmare” to describe society’s dealing with the poor and marginalized. Why would we celebrate his legacy?
When he died, he was embarking on a poor people’s campaign—to highlight to the world the poverty in the “greatest country on earth.” That is why he was in Memphis, because King told anyone who would listen that the sanitation workers in Memphis and all workers have dignity and purpose and that people should treat them fairly. He called for a revolution of values, ones not focused on materialism, militarism, racism, and poverty, but ones focused on the Beloved Community. This love would seep through all areas of life and would ground itself in the Golden Rule—treating others, as you would want others to treat you. So again, why celebrate his legacy?
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