Editorial Jan 17, 2020 Michael Coard Philadelphia Tribune
Michael Coard can be followed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as at AvengingTheAncestors.com. His “Radio Courtroom” show can be heard on WURD96.1FM.
On Monday, white America will celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 91st birthday, even though he was born on Jan. 15 in 1929.
And just like white America got the date wrong, it also got MLK himself wrong. Or, better stated, it continues to treat him wrong by appropriating instead of appreciating this revolutionary. Yes, I said revolutionary — and I meant it, too. I’ll explain why shortly.
By the way, if y’all white folks play that 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech one more damn time, I’m gonna scream! That speech wasn’t even his first at the Lincoln Memorial. MLK had already given one six years earlier in 1957 in front of a massive crowd of up to 30,000.
He is much more than that 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech. He is much bigger than that 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech. He is a revolutionary “recidivist ex-con” who had been jailed 29 times for his “anti-social” behavior. And if he said today in 2020 what he said back in 1963, which was that “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws,” y’all white folks would call the cops on him. And they’d beat him, shoot him, and/or kill him.
Before I explain his indisputable revolutionary street cred, allow me to explain white America’s appropriation of MLK. This country treats him as if he were some kind of malleable clay that it can mold into exactly whatever it needs him to be, which is a milquetoast, flag-waving, white folks-absolving, capitalist accommodationist. But he was none of that. Quite the contrary, he was a composed rabble-rousing, USA racism-condemning, white folks-castigating, socialistic disruptor.
You want proof? Here’s the proof. It’s irrefutable and chronological:
His first act of civil rights protesting occurred in 1950 when he was a mere 21 years old and it happened not far from Philly in Maple Shade, N.J., while he was living in Camden and attending classes at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester as reported by Patrick Duff, a local historical researcher/investigator. MLK, then known by his birth name, Michael, was refused service at Mary’s Cafe in Maple Shade because of his race. When he insisted upon being permitted to purchase a ginger ale beverage there, the proprietor pulled a gun and fired shots in the air. Instead of taking no for an answer, MLK filed a complaint with the police and the shooter was arrested. He later called that incident his first civil rights activism.
MLK in 1956 applied for a license to carry one of the many guns he kept for self-protection and family protection at his home, which was described by an eyewitness reporter as an “arsenal.”
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