Week Fifteen: MLK & The Ongoing Pursuit of Justice
First and foremost, before we dive into this weeks musings on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I have to tell you all some very, very important news:
I've spent a lot of time this week meditating on the merit of activism and its purpose. Truthfully, it was spurned by two things: a random comment somewhere on the internet about King's work not carrying as much metaphorical weight because he didn't believe in Gay rights and my new favorite podcast, Buffering the Vampire Slayer. These things seem unrelated but roll with me here.
Now, I can't claim to know for certain that King didn't believe in gay rights but given that he was a devout Baptist preacher whose morals and work were rooted in a monotheistic belief, it wouldn't surprise me. The question then becomes: can a person be separated from their actions and still be considered good? Does ones persons indistinct moral compass detract from the good they've done?
People are imperfect. This will always be true. But perhaps if MLK were living in today's society, so vastly different from the time he lived in, his fight would be too not only for racial equality but for marriage as well. Speaking for the majority, I think most people would agree that social progression has evolved leaps and bounds from where it was in the sixties. And as a culture, purely from the vantage point of the American melting pot, we know more now about the way people are wired and generally agree that being gay is not a choice: it's a state of existence. Taking that into consideration, is it really fair to discount MLK's work in the civil rights movement simply due to this oversight towards LGBTQ folks? I would think not. People change, ideas change, beliefs change. Hopefully, with the work of others like Dr. King, we evolve, too. We move forward.
The aforementioned podcast, Buffering the Vampire Slayer, is hosted by two queer women, Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo, and among the topics they cover, aside from how absolutely bonkers the show can be, the married duo discusses the ways in which the patriarchy and its very structure impacts our daily lives. These are things we don't even think about: language that perpetuates sexual inequality, organizing our relationships based on conditioned social behaviors, the inherent structure that pits people against one another due to subconscious bias.
Fifty years later, though the foundation is much different, we're still fighting the same fight: the space to allow people to be exactly who they are with the same rights and the same platform to achieve whatever they want to achieve. And though it seems insurmountable, we're still working against the system to accomplish this, calling people out, organizing protests, bringing attention to the structures that perpetuate these injustices (do we need to talk about the "mentally unstable" versus "thug" conversation in the news?).
It's a heavy topic, I understand. But it's one we have to talk about. We have to talk about the system and its corruption; we have to talk about marriage equality; we have to talk about how media shifts the story to serve the agenda of racism and exclusion and most specifically targets people of color to underpin the notion that people of color are somehow inherently "other".
I live with the hope that someday these social inequalities will be problems of the past. But I also know, much like Dr. King knew, that it's an uphill battle with no foreseeable end in sight. There will always be justice and people to fight for but it's worth fighting for.
Until next week.
If you haven't seen this movie already, do yourself a favor and go watch it right now. It's a late eighties gem of a movie featuring the "Coreys" (before drug problems and sad, attempted music careers), a young and beautiful Jami Gertz, and most importantly, Kiefer Sutherland who plays the movies lead antagonist -- a gorgeous blond vampire whose goal is to break the protagonists moral center, shift his entire world view, and set him on a path of literal, figurative, and emotional destruction. It's a goddamn classic.
Plus, there's the added bonus of everything wonderful about the eighties: the music, clothes, a half naked dude playing the saxophone wearing an actual metal chain around his neck as decoration. Jason Patric is pretty handsome, too (I mean, COME ON! That jawline!). I suppose that's worth mentioning. Oh, and the most iconic line of the movie "Death by stereo!" can't be missed. Please, please, please go watch it.
Moving on!
Earlier this week, we celebrated (commemorated, perhaps? Is there a good term for celebrating someones life and legacy while simultaneously mourning their loss?) the fifty year anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's death. Fifty years ago, on April 4th, 1968, MLK was murdered in cold blood, his legacy and work of social justice and equality stopped shy of his fortieth birthday. There seems to be a collective memory of MLK as a passive, peaceful person and while those things are true, it's not a fair representation of his entire work as an activist. In fact, there are numerous examples of the ways in which Dr. King's call to action were rooted in things other than passivity. Take this passage, for example:
"Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself...The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent." Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist."
Peace marches, sit-ins, these things happened but they are not the whole of his work nor the entire image of his beliefs. I think in some ways, this watered down version of Dr. King's activism has served to undermine his cause and slow its progression. Look at where we are today: still fighting the system for social justice, for sexual and racial equality, for the inherent rights that some are afforded to be given freely to others without recourse. Will we always be on this battlefield in some form or fashion?
I've spent a lot of time this week meditating on the merit of activism and its purpose. Truthfully, it was spurned by two things: a random comment somewhere on the internet about King's work not carrying as much metaphorical weight because he didn't believe in Gay rights and my new favorite podcast, Buffering the Vampire Slayer. These things seem unrelated but roll with me here.
Now, I can't claim to know for certain that King didn't believe in gay rights but given that he was a devout Baptist preacher whose morals and work were rooted in a monotheistic belief, it wouldn't surprise me. The question then becomes: can a person be separated from their actions and still be considered good? Does ones persons indistinct moral compass detract from the good they've done?
People are imperfect. This will always be true. But perhaps if MLK were living in today's society, so vastly different from the time he lived in, his fight would be too not only for racial equality but for marriage as well. Speaking for the majority, I think most people would agree that social progression has evolved leaps and bounds from where it was in the sixties. And as a culture, purely from the vantage point of the American melting pot, we know more now about the way people are wired and generally agree that being gay is not a choice: it's a state of existence. Taking that into consideration, is it really fair to discount MLK's work in the civil rights movement simply due to this oversight towards LGBTQ folks? I would think not. People change, ideas change, beliefs change. Hopefully, with the work of others like Dr. King, we evolve, too. We move forward.
The aforementioned podcast, Buffering the Vampire Slayer, is hosted by two queer women, Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo, and among the topics they cover, aside from how absolutely bonkers the show can be, the married duo discusses the ways in which the patriarchy and its very structure impacts our daily lives. These are things we don't even think about: language that perpetuates sexual inequality, organizing our relationships based on conditioned social behaviors, the inherent structure that pits people against one another due to subconscious bias.
Fifty years later, though the foundation is much different, we're still fighting the same fight: the space to allow people to be exactly who they are with the same rights and the same platform to achieve whatever they want to achieve. And though it seems insurmountable, we're still working against the system to accomplish this, calling people out, organizing protests, bringing attention to the structures that perpetuate these injustices (do we need to talk about the "mentally unstable" versus "thug" conversation in the news?).
It's a heavy topic, I understand. But it's one we have to talk about. We have to talk about the system and its corruption; we have to talk about marriage equality; we have to talk about how media shifts the story to serve the agenda of racism and exclusion and most specifically targets people of color to underpin the notion that people of color are somehow inherently "other".
I live with the hope that someday these social inequalities will be problems of the past. But I also know, much like Dr. King knew, that it's an uphill battle with no foreseeable end in sight. There will always be justice and people to fight for but it's worth fighting for.
Until next week.
Comments
Post a Comment