Folks who follow me in my various social media endeavors might have noticed that I never quoted Martin Luther King yesterday, nor did I share any memes that did so. There is a very simple reason for that... I don't think he's mine to quote.
I like to believe that, if I had been living and working when he was, that I'd have been an ally for him. But I can't be sure. I am accurately described as a moderate white protestant minister, a demographic frequently condemned by King as far too passive, hand wringing "allies" who were ultimately more hindrance than help to his cause.
It's nice to assume that if we were there when this stuff went down, we'd have been on the right side of history. But we are who we are because of where we stand in history, and looking at my own family in that point in time, I simply cannot assume that I would have seen the need to push for Civil Rights now, even if it came at the expense of public peace. I might have been an idle fretter, wringing my hands and urging people to just "get along."
I'll never know.
It's similar to the sentiment I get in Churches around Easter time, when everyone wants to cast themselves in the role of the allies who were horrified at Christ's death. It's nice to believe, but in the end, it seems far more likely that we'd have been among the ones shouting for him to be crucified.
There is far too much eagerness among white people in general to claim King as Their Hero. In the heated political climate of today, the spirit of King becomes co-opted as a patron saint of "the good Black Protester," with those perpetuating that image unaware of how the very thought is completely and totally racist.
Doctor Martin Luther King was a powerful figure precisely because he wasn't sweet and quiet. He was powerful, provocative, and impossible to ignore. If he were to suddenly be brought to today, if we got to meet, I'd hope he'd see who I am and how I work and consider me a victory of his movement.
If he is my hero, it is not in how he fought for Civil Rights, but rather in how he grabbed comfortable white moderates by the throat and DEMANDED that we stand for Justice, or stop calling ourselves his allies, a kick in the pants that I hope I am a small testimony to, even if the state of rhetoric from ministers today means he didn't entirely overcome old prejudices.
When it comes to Civil Rights, when it comes to how we protest and how minorities make their voices known, he does not belong to me, or any other white person, no matter what side of his battle lines we feel that we stand on. Because it is EASY to assume we'd stand with him.
But if we use him as a reason why others shouldn't stand, or as a metric to show that their standing is wrong, or even worse, to claim that there is no longer a need for people to stand at all... then we are, unequivocally, standing against him. And while that is our right, basic decency would demand that we not quote him as an ally while we do so.
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