Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., national co-chair of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, speaks out against the U.S.-led war in Vietnam at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. on February 6, 1968. King would be assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee less than two months later. (Photo: Joseph Klipple/Getty Images)
Progressives Push Back as Trump, Pentagon, and ICE 'Hijack' MLK's Message
"Dr. King was an anti-war, anti-capitalist justice seeker who rejected poverty, racism, militarism, and the death penalty," Rep. Ayanna Pressley reminded those who would co-opt the slain human rights leader's words.
Progressives are pushing back against President Donald Trump and federal agencies including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Pentagon that attempted to co-opt Martin Luther King Jr.'s messages Monday, saying they are in fact perpetrators of the "evil triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism" the slain civil rights leader fought against.
"We honor [MLK] by not hijacking his words and twisting them to fit a white supremacist agenda."
--Prof. Carol Anderson
Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller tweeted a three-minute tribute video that focused entirely on King's nonviolent struggle for racial equality, and the Defense Department's efforts to make the U.S. military more inclusive.
"Here at the Department of Defense we are committed to ensuring equal opportunity for all, and to building a force that reflects the diverse society we serve and protect," said Miller. In 2017, Trump enacted a ban on transgender people serving in the military.
Miller's tribute did not include any mention of the anti-war activism that increasingly characterized King's speeches and writing starting in 1967, the year in which he called the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" in his Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence address. At the time, U.S. forces were killing hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and Laotian civilians. Today, U.S. forces are still waging a global anti-terrorism war that has raged for nearly the entire century and has also killed at least hundreds of thousands of civilians in at least seven countries.
Also tweeting homage to King on Monday was the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which hailed his "message of hope, justice, and equality."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)--a fierce critic of ICE deportations, concentration camps, seizure of children from their parents, forced sterilizations, and other human rights crimes and abuses committed by the Trump administration--reiterated her call for the agency's abolition:
Trump also issued his annual proclamation honoring King. This year, the president praised King's "resistance to the injustices of his era," including "the denial of the right to vote," a statement that flies in the face of widespread Republican voter suppression efforts and his own attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.
Days after the Department of Justice finished executing 13 people at Trump's direction, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) set the record straight:
Without identifying Trump or anyone else by name, Bernice King, a minister and King's youngest daughter, reminded the world that her father was "one of the most hated men in America," and that "many who quote him now and evoke him to deter justice today would likely hate, and may already hate, the authentic King."
Author and historian Carol Anderson, a professor of African American studies at Emory University in Atlanta, told Vox that "we must honor MLK by honoring him."
"We honor him by not hijacking his words and twisting them to fit a white supremacist agenda," said Anderson. "We have policies that in fact don't care about character but go after the color of people's skin," she said. "So until we have a system that recognizes that, don't spout the words of Martin Luther King to advance or to provide a fig leaf to cover the white supremacist agenda."
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just four days to go in our Spring Campaign, we are not even halfway to our goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Progressives are pushing back against President Donald Trump and federal agencies including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Pentagon that attempted to co-opt Martin Luther King Jr.'s messages Monday, saying they are in fact perpetrators of the "evil triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism" the slain civil rights leader fought against.
"We honor [MLK] by not hijacking his words and twisting them to fit a white supremacist agenda."
--Prof. Carol Anderson
Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller tweeted a three-minute tribute video that focused entirely on King's nonviolent struggle for racial equality, and the Defense Department's efforts to make the U.S. military more inclusive.
"Here at the Department of Defense we are committed to ensuring equal opportunity for all, and to building a force that reflects the diverse society we serve and protect," said Miller. In 2017, Trump enacted a ban on transgender people serving in the military.
Miller's tribute did not include any mention of the anti-war activism that increasingly characterized King's speeches and writing starting in 1967, the year in which he called the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" in his Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence address. At the time, U.S. forces were killing hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and Laotian civilians. Today, U.S. forces are still waging a global anti-terrorism war that has raged for nearly the entire century and has also killed at least hundreds of thousands of civilians in at least seven countries.
Also tweeting homage to King on Monday was the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which hailed his "message of hope, justice, and equality."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)--a fierce critic of ICE deportations, concentration camps, seizure of children from their parents, forced sterilizations, and other human rights crimes and abuses committed by the Trump administration--reiterated her call for the agency's abolition:
Trump also issued his annual proclamation honoring King. This year, the president praised King's "resistance to the injustices of his era," including "the denial of the right to vote," a statement that flies in the face of widespread Republican voter suppression efforts and his own attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.
Days after the Department of Justice finished executing 13 people at Trump's direction, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) set the record straight:
Without identifying Trump or anyone else by name, Bernice King, a minister and King's youngest daughter, reminded the world that her father was "one of the most hated men in America," and that "many who quote him now and evoke him to deter justice today would likely hate, and may already hate, the authentic King."
Author and historian Carol Anderson, a professor of African American studies at Emory University in Atlanta, told Vox that "we must honor MLK by honoring him."
"We honor him by not hijacking his words and twisting them to fit a white supremacist agenda," said Anderson. "We have policies that in fact don't care about character but go after the color of people's skin," she said. "So until we have a system that recognizes that, don't spout the words of Martin Luther King to advance or to provide a fig leaf to cover the white supremacist agenda."
Progressives are pushing back against President Donald Trump and federal agencies including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Pentagon that attempted to co-opt Martin Luther King Jr.'s messages Monday, saying they are in fact perpetrators of the "evil triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism" the slain civil rights leader fought against.
"We honor [MLK] by not hijacking his words and twisting them to fit a white supremacist agenda."
--Prof. Carol Anderson
Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller tweeted a three-minute tribute video that focused entirely on King's nonviolent struggle for racial equality, and the Defense Department's efforts to make the U.S. military more inclusive.
"Here at the Department of Defense we are committed to ensuring equal opportunity for all, and to building a force that reflects the diverse society we serve and protect," said Miller. In 2017, Trump enacted a ban on transgender people serving in the military.
Miller's tribute did not include any mention of the anti-war activism that increasingly characterized King's speeches and writing starting in 1967, the year in which he called the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" in his Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence address. At the time, U.S. forces were killing hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and Laotian civilians. Today, U.S. forces are still waging a global anti-terrorism war that has raged for nearly the entire century and has also killed at least hundreds of thousands of civilians in at least seven countries.
Also tweeting homage to King on Monday was the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which hailed his "message of hope, justice, and equality."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)--a fierce critic of ICE deportations, concentration camps, seizure of children from their parents, forced sterilizations, and other human rights crimes and abuses committed by the Trump administration--reiterated her call for the agency's abolition:
Trump also issued his annual proclamation honoring King. This year, the president praised King's "resistance to the injustices of his era," including "the denial of the right to vote," a statement that flies in the face of widespread Republican voter suppression efforts and his own attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.
Days after the Department of Justice finished executing 13 people at Trump's direction, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) set the record straight:
Without identifying Trump or anyone else by name, Bernice King, a minister and King's youngest daughter, reminded the world that her father was "one of the most hated men in America," and that "many who quote him now and evoke him to deter justice today would likely hate, and may already hate, the authentic King."
Author and historian Carol Anderson, a professor of African American studies at Emory University in Atlanta, told Vox that "we must honor MLK by honoring him."
"We honor him by not hijacking his words and twisting them to fit a white supremacist agenda," said Anderson. "We have policies that in fact don't care about character but go after the color of people's skin," she said. "So until we have a system that recognizes that, don't spout the words of Martin Luther King to advance or to provide a fig leaf to cover the white supremacist agenda."