From: slzm9@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: MLK & U-2 & Disposable Heroes of Hip.
Date: 11 Sep 92 14:18:42 MDT
Organization: Utah State University
Summary: R: MLK & U-2 & Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
Expires: 30 Sep 92 14:19:27 MDT
Distribution: world

  Ok, I'm gonna try real hard to reign this in and not let it become
a flame bath.  Zip




In article <2sr-df=@engin.umich.edu>, dem@engin.umich.edu (Darryle E Merlette) writes:
> In article <1992Sep4.000806.1@mscf.med.upenn.edu>
> mills_j@mscf.med.upenn.edu(Jason Mills) asks:
> 
>>I'd like to hear some opinions.  Do people think MLK is just out of 
>>style now, but his message will endure?  What about all those young white
>>people cheering him?
> 
> The "problem" with MLK's message is that it has been co-opted by the
> white establishment as the paragon of what "the Black struggle" should
> be. 

  Take your "conspiracy" filled mind and put it to use. Do you think the
"White establishment" works in concert? Yes you probably do, but they
do not it is just 100,000 real rich white folks trying to get richer
and they don't care where the money comes from. So set up your
phantasmal "conspriratorial" oppressors if you want but leave me out of
it ok. The problem is and always has been that people see it in different
ways. There are people that think that unless we change this system
non-violently we will only replace the powerful with new individuals.
Now that would probably be just fine with you wouldn't it Darryle you
probably wouldn't mind kicking some white ass for a while would you?


> There's nothing "wrong" per se with the message, just how it is
> being used by the very institutions it was meant to fight. MLK's message
> of non-violent struggle is being super-hyped as *the* correct way to
> affect change while the philosophies of the many Turner's, Hampton's,
> and X's throughout history are labelled as bad, violent, and counter-
> productive. 

  I don't care what the skin color is of the person that says "Violence
will not achieve the goal of equality of races." I agree with them. You,
are making MLK out to be a hero for saying this and white people
that say it to be conspriratorial oppressors. That's racism. Think
about it.

> MLK's message is fine for those who subscribe to conventional
> Christian ideology and thus believe that violence (even in self defense)
> will prevent one from attaining everlasting life in some heaven. 

  I am no Christian and I agree that providing violent change will
only provide our children with the same. And the change will be violent
until someone/some people have the courage to change it non-violently.
Do you have that kind of courage?

> It is no
> accident that Malcolm X, as a Muslim, couldn't accept MLK's Christian-
> inspired vision. Perhaps the white establishment's endorsement of MLK's
> "Christ-like" message is a result of it being more familiar than Malcolm's
> Islam-inspired message. Or perhaps it is a result of something less
> subconscious: in the end, both Malcolm and MLK met the very same *violent*
> fate; it didn't really matter that one had preached unconditional non-
> violence and the other had preached conditional violence. 

  You have made the most important point yourself. It doesn't matter
which method of change they professed they both met violent ends. Why?
because this nation knows nothing else but violent change. When can
we stop the killing and start loving each other? Has anybody really
heard the message of love that MLK spoke or was he just one more
useless prophet thrown against the wall by the equal rights movement?
For the dream to become reality you must stop killing. It's simple
to say but hard to do.


> But in the eyes
> of those in power, the ride is a bit more comfortable with someone who
> preaches non-violence because at least that person is guaranteed not
> to shoot back! As for the relatively powerless (but nonetheless privileged)
> masses of whites (like the ones at the U2 concert who found it easy to
> cheer MLK), their "participation" serves as a transient drug that momentarily
> assuages feelings of guilt.
> 
> 	Darryle

   Sure Darryle there are some people there that have not heard the words
of Martin Luther King but only assuage their guilt by cheering him. But
there are others truthfully trying to change the culture in which they
live ... one life at a time. Would you dam them with all the others
because you can't accept the help of white people? If you wouldn't then
don't be so quick to judge. And remember this, for whatever reason those
people are cheering, many of them will be voting in November and I'll
bet they don't vote republican.

> 
> "If King loses, worse leaders are going to take his place. Look at
> the Black Muslims." -- Robert Kennedy, 5/14/63
> 
> "If the white people realize what the alternative is, perhaps they
> will be more willing to hear Dr. King" -- Malcolm X, 2/3/65


Peace, but not without justice,

Zip