The Myth Of The Promised Land

It's all but impossible to get through any media today without at least hearing reference to Martin Luther King's Promised Land speech - the full text is here, some excerpts below.

First, the notion that America is a Promised Land is a myth. What it is, is a land full of promise for anyone who chooses to avail themselves of the means - and also shoulder the responsibilities, of earning that great promise. King knew that.

His peaceful, non-hate-based efforts emphasized economics, responsibility and even pride. There's nothing wrong with that at all. But contrast King's rhetoric with the rhetoric we hear from some more than well to do black or liberal individuals purporting to be carrying on his legacy. There is no room for the Kanye Wests who would say George Bush doesn't like black people, while gathering his riches from a music movement steeped in violence, misogyny and foul language. King wouldn't want to have any association with an individual like that. Yet, that same individual has amassed the very wealth King saw as key to his movement's success.

I could go on citing the race-baiting, often threatening rhetoric from some number of idiots who would seek to prop up King today as the forerunner of their current efforts. And that includes a great number of white liberal politicians whose only motivation is personal or political power and bold-faced self interest. But I won't. Too damnned few of them deserve to be mentioned in the same breath.

And that's all this whole thing is about. We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God's children. And that we don't have to live like we are forced to live.

Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people, individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively, that means all of us together, collectively we are richer than all the nation in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.

We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails, we just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda--fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."

Comments

[bizarre]

Oh Dan, what an excellent post. It is so true that some of his own have corrupted what he stood for for their own agendas. He was definitely an amazing man backed up by an equally amazing woman. He was intelligent, at times brilliant, and always a gentleman. A man of God who could say more in a whispered well crafted sentence than almost anyone. This man is truly a role model for everyone.

[thealamo]

Kind of interesting how things turn out. I remember growing up and we would go play at the black kids' houses and they would come to ours to play. Nobody actually thought about "color", hell we all loved Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle, and things of that nature were our major concerns.

Then....busing.
In that short span of time, white became "whitey" to many blacks, and many blacks were called niggers by some whites and special favor was actually given the blacks in my high school...they were not required to shave...but we were. Not a big deal in the whole of things, but when you use 16 year olds to cause division by granting special status to some...it ws bound to have consequences.
The year after I graduated from high school, there was actually a race riot at the school, where one year before...everyone got along.
Government solutions....and the results are ongoing.

[NikName]

Hear Hear. Very well said Dan. Couldnt agree more!