(Fun fact: MLK was begrudgingly tolerated as a black rights activist for several years, but then he pivoted to working class solidarity, and – bam! – assassinated. Funny, that.)
Hated is an understatement. He was about as far left as any figure with popular support has ever been in the US, which is why he so deeply scared the elites who opposed him.
Basically the moment he died people began softening his views to make them more palatable to the other side. This helped get civil rights legislations passed, but something of the man himself was lost in the process. Kids today learn he was for equal rights but very little about his actual beliefs.
Some More News has an excellent video about how little MLK Jr’s modern image resembles the actual man, to the point that right-wing news stations invoke his words
to support Republican policies without any sign of irony.
Ah, you mean the Poor People’s Campaign.
(Fun fact: MLK was begrudgingly tolerated as a black rights activist for several years, but then he pivoted to working class solidarity, and – bam! – assassinated. Funny, that.)
MLK was a real one. The more I learn about him, the more I respect him and the more I understand that he would be widely hated today
Hated is an understatement. He was about as far left as any figure with popular support has ever been in the US, which is why he so deeply scared the elites who opposed him.
Basically the moment he died people began softening his views to make them more palatable to the other side. This helped get civil rights legislations passed, but something of the man himself was lost in the process. Kids today learn he was for equal rights but very little about his actual beliefs.
Some More News has an excellent video about how little MLK Jr’s modern image resembles the actual man, to the point that right-wing news stations invoke his words to support Republican policies without any sign of irony.
He was widely hated* then.
Indeed!