Stop “Pimpin” Dr. King & Malcolm X to Fit Your Narrative
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It’s ignorant, uneducated, & neither of them would agree with you.
n the wake of divisiveness over COVID-19, and the Sadly, the Malcolm X that most have grown to hate has been killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna whitewashed. The MLK that you’ve probably grown to love Taylor, & Rashard Brooks, and the protests & riots has been sanitized. Their rhetorical approaches have been cherry-picked & appropriated, forced into their respective taking place across the nation, social media has exploded with posts citing quotes from Civil Rights legacies, and placed into our textbooks to cleanse Ameriactivists Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm ca’s self-serving narrative. The same level of whitewashing X. There’s a major problem with this. Nearly all of explains the “Lost Cause” narrative, which claims the Civil these posted quotes have nothing to do with the calls for War wasn’t fought over slavery & the Confederates only lost much-needed structural reform, or an end to systemic rac- because they were outnumbered. ism, or wealth inequality, or oppression that MLK & Malcolm X fought so hard for. Instead, they’re supplements to talking Let me make this perfectly clear, both Malcolm X and Dr. points and clickbait, more often than not from MAGA King were radicals. followers, right-wing think tanks, and liberal sympathizers, to somehow justify 45’s sentiments, undermine protests, and “The question is not if we will be extremists, but what condemn riots. kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists
for hate or love?”- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
It’s annoying, especially because it’s clear that these quote-spammers honestly have no clue about the real Dr. It is true that Malcolm X was, at times, critical of King. King and Malcolm X. To assume knowledge of their messag- Regardless, they both fought hard for radical change. Unfores’ intended purpose without context is pure ignorance. It tunately, their lives met the exact same fate just three years also undermines their messages. It’s often assumed that Mal- apart, and far too soon. colm X was an extremist & domestic terrorist (which makes no sense why people would choose to quote him), while Dr. King was mild-mannered and amenable to reason.
