Forty years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and on the eve of his birthday celebration, American politics is embroiled in a stupid, and needless controversy over his contributions to civil rights in America. The remarks of Senator Hillary Clinton which suggested that the political action taken by President Johnson was necessary to make Dr. King’s dream a reality has been subject to demagoguery by some in the African American community. They suggest Senator Clinton by her remarks minimized Dr. King’s contribution. To purchase that logic one would then have to assert that Dr. King and many leaders in the Civil Rights Community were totally blind to the political dimension. It would be akin to saying that segregation would not have been defeated without the aid of politics. This assertion in my opinion is a reach, a reach that will only be bought by those who refuse to engage their critical minds, thus falling pray to the blandishments of race baiting. For starters, Hillary Clinton is in a dogfight for the Democratic Party nomination, of which the African American voter is a critical, block, and which her chief rival is an African American. Thus, the last thing Ms Clinton would do is to speak in a pejorative manner against Dr. King. It would be the equivalent to political suicide. The Clintons are too savvy for that kind of lapse. The Clintons have probably developed more partnerships within the African American community than any president in history, and posses an acute if not uncanny sensitivity toward African Americans. And it has been a two way street, the African American community has embraced the Clintons with more warmth than any president in recent history perhaps even surpassing their love for the Kennedy’s.
This is a fierce race, in a pivotal time in American history, perhaps the most crucial presidential election since 1968. Animosity within competing campaigns is not a new commodity, in The Making of the President 1968 author Theodore White chronicled the anger that the McCarthy campaign had against Senator Robert Kennedy. Kennedy earned their wrath by entering the race in March only after McCarthy did the heavy lifting of effectively dethroning a sitting president a month earlier. The Clintons entered the race with an aura of inevitability. Senator Obama’s high energy, well-organized campaign, has become a thorn in the Clinton’s side piercing her aura, and stealing her thunder. And as such, like Senator McCarthy forty years ago, the Clintons have no love for the upstart Obama. Instead of 2008 being a Clinton coronation, this has been a clash of the titans with Senator Clinton fighting for her political life.
That said, for Obama supporters to assert that Senator Clinton’s remarks was a slight against Dr King is an ugly and unnecessary injection of race. To his credit Senator Obama did not start this firestorm, but in my eyes that’s where his credit stops. Senator Obama is an intelligent man, and a man who should understand, the context of Senator Clinton’s remarks and diffuse the issue. Sunday on Meet the Press Senator Clinton defended her remarks by making several key points, including fact Dr. King supported Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and was present at the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But more importantly Senator Clinton noted that many of the key players in the civil right movement understood the strategic importance of politics in the movement and entered the political arena themselves. Thus since the 70’s the political landscape has been flooded with seasoned veterans of the civil rights movement.
Back to Senator Obama. In 2004 I suggested in a poem that many streets across America that were named after Dr. King were known more for “drug traffic and “bodies in plastic” than for Dr. King’s core principles. One would think working on the streets of Chicago, Senator Obama is aware of this sad commentary within the African American Community. By piling on in this needless controversy, Senator Obama blew an opportunity to remind black America that we have a responsibility to honor Dr. King’s memory by working as agents for change in our own community not reviving old racial wounds.
I am producing a film on Dr. King’s anti war stance that begun in earnest a year to the day before his death. In speaking out against the war, Dr. King took the road less traveled, he challenged a sitting President, and incurred the wrath of many in the Civil Rights Community, including many of his supporters. Dr. King would be proud that in 2008 there is a high probability that a black man will be elected president. He would even more proud if that black man stood up to his supporters and challenged them to tone down the ugly rhetoric that attempts to manipulate his name and Dr. King’s unquestioned place in history.
For an election with historic implications to now pivot needlessly on race is a disgrace, and dishonors the memory of Dr. King. I also believe that the leaders in the African American community should seize this historic opportunity to advocate for significant change, rather than use the legacy of Dr. King as a political tool. Pushing racial buttons reveals the lack of evolution within the African American leadership, diverts attention from real issues, and sullies both the campaign and the candidates.
Dr. King deserves better.
