I’m all for Martin Luther King Jr. info and his mission, but the formatting of this post is terrible and distracts from the message.
Do you know what sub you’re in?
If you’re going to post something long, why oh why use Twitter/bluesky/similar?
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I ain’t reading all of that in that format
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I have never heard anyone misinterpret the I Have a Dream speech, why put so much effort rebutting someone who is either malicious or an idiot?
US Republicans, in particular, love to quote MLK out of context, cherry picking from his words in ways that purport to support their dogma.
“Judged not by the colour of their skin” is a line that gets thrown around a lot by right wingers (and, of course, “enlightened centrists”), primarily in the context of their hatred of affirmative action, diversity, representation, or anything that even sounds vaguely like those things (and yes, those are even their own complex can of worms, but they’re not interested in having a nuanced conversation about that). Suppose, say, that a TV show decides to cast a non-white actor for a role that’s typically been imagined in the popular consciousness as white. Like, say, a Lord of The Rings adaptation decides that Aragorn should be played by a PoC actor, because they specifically want to make the story feel more inclusive to non-white viewers. There’s nothing wrong with this as a casting decision, it doesn’t break the story, but of course a lot of racists would get very upset about it. Then, when challenged on their obvious racism, they will declare that actually it’s the people casting the show who were being racist by only considering non-white actors for the role, and that MLK would be ashamed of these people, after all, they’re supposed to be judging by the content of the character not the colour of the skin.
Their use of this particular line sits firmly in the realms of “I don’t see colour.” It’s a thing that people say either a) as a deflection from examining their own racism, or b) in well meaning naivete. It fails to understand that while race should not be something that divides people, it absolutely is something that divides people. You can’t just close your eyes and ignore it, because the moment you do you’re ignoring the much larger systemic issues that affect people of colour. A white person choosing to personally inhabit a post-race world does nothing for the non-white people who live in the real world where race, even though it shouldn’t, is very much a thing that matters.
Anti-racism is hard work. It involves both constantly examining your attitudes and the ways in which your behaviour is subconsciously influenced by attitudes to race, and working to dismantle massive self-sustaining systems of oppression that have existed longer than any of us have been alive. It’s the work of inheriting a broken world and having to accept the responsibility for making it better. But the people who don’t want to do that work would much rather have you believe that the solution to every problem of race is contained within a simple mantra of personal responsibility, that basically as long as you’re not a card carrying member of the KKK you’re all good and your responsibility ends there.
This is a huge and complicated topic (that’s kind of the point of the OP), and I’m inevitably oversimplifying in my attempt to explain, but I hope that gives you some idea of whats going on here.
I can’t even tell what the misinterpretation being rebutted is. Early on it sounded like the misinterpretation was people in general vs his children, but that doesn’t make sense because “umm akshually MLK only wanted equality for his children” is not a good look. Then later on it sounded like it was present vs future, but that’s not so much a misinterpretation as a wrong answer to the question of “has MLK’s dream been achieved yet?”
Because outrage!
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So was King a Louis Rossmann fan? He sounds like one.
Black boys, Black girls, white boys, white girls, superstar deejay, here we go… interesting capitalisation in that there text.
You know MLK didn’t write that transcript, right?
Why are you getting sidetracked from a message of unity with somthing so trivial. It almost seems intentional, like you’d prefer whites and blacks be separate.
I can’t help thinking and worrying about your reply… from my understanding of written English (my adopted language) capitalisation versus non-capitalisation does suggest separation - or at least a difference of some sort. I always thought some humans are black, some humans are white; most humans are both or neither. The way that speech has been transcribed - NOT SPOKEN - creates a difference. If I wrote I was wearing a Black jacket and a white hat that would be nonsensical. My problem is the subtext of the capitalisation process. (Having said that some lovely person pointed out that apparently this is in AP’s style guide - so maybe it’s well intentioned; but poorly understood by those of us outside the… “yankosphere” (Does that word exist?)
I am. That’s why I highlighted that particular usage of capital letters. When written like this It seems a really subtle remix of the great man’s original speech… perhaps it’s just me.
it’s possible they were following AP style guidelines which suggest that.
I’ve had a chance to look into that now. Again, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I had no idea it was a thing. I don’t agree with it - but AP’s reasoning and caveats on their website aren’t entirely without merit. I just think that to the dozens of us on the internet who aren’t US born and bred it seems massively incongruous - and might have the potential to perpetuate the exact opposite reaction to what is hoped. On a side note - good effort bringing something of interest and value to the table.
I just think that to the dozens of us on the internet who aren’t US born and bred it seems massively incongruous
That might be true, but every country likely has similar language quirks for historical, cultural reasons that may seem odd or hypocritical to outsiders.
Yeah, maybe so. I suppose having racism / segregation hard-baked in to your language would be a great way to maintain the status quo and keep the little people against each other. For a nation actually born out of genocide, slavery and apartheid I almost want to shoot myself in the face when its citizens still use words and phrases like “African American”, “Native American” and “American”. The inequity is staggering and not even implicit. I hope that practice dies before I do - but I doubt it will.
Associated Press, yeah? I’ll have a look at that later. Thanks for the heads up. I suppose this might be classed as “semiotics” which, honestly, ain’t my speciality. Just seems weird to me - perpetuating a difference (if only syntactically) between humans with different levels of melanin. I guess from a US-centric point of view it “might” have some merit.
You sound like one of those “all lives matter” people right now.
I’m aware that when people say “save the whale” they don’t mean kill the dolphin, so, no. I’m not what you think I sound like.
Hello fellow chem bros fan! How does it feel like to wake up in the sun?
Lol. The one person who saw the joke / reference is on downvotes? Looks like the hivemind has reached the fediverse. I often wonder, after being alive for almost fifty years, if it’s even worth having conversations online any more. I understand supposed do gooders misunderstanding my comment in their righteous indignation - but what the fuck did you say that deserved negative feedback? You just showed some love for the brothers and their excellent catalogue. Wtf?
Amazing, every single morning. Thanks. It helps Galvanize me before I Push The Button.
