Tell me...

[conuly]

is my understanding of this "tribute" to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a bit too cynical? Or is my reaction of "wow" absolutely spot on?

Well, anyway, take a video of lesser-known quotations.

Comments

[brokenallbroken]

My "wow" started with the columnist being white. Being Hiberno-German, I am unqualified to comment further.

[conuly]

The columnist is white, but the LW is - or at least purports to be - African-American. At least, I think they do.

[author_by_night]

Where do they seem to imply they're black? I can't find it, although the ads are also causing the page to jump. (I have Ad Blocker, it just seems they found a way to counteract that on the page.)

Of course, even if they are black, they can still have problematic views towards people who use welfare programs.

[conuly]

They appear to be referring to the African-American community as "we" and "us", but I'm not sure what to make of that.

[author_by_night]

I raised my eyebrows a bit at first, because I was like "is he or she saying he'd be horrified by the black community, or are they just unintentionally wording things in a problematic way?" (Since I've totally had that in general conversation, and a minute of clarification has fixed it.)

However:

rather than depending on handouts and the goodwill of others.

Yeah. No. That rubs me the wrong way.

ETA: And even if LW is black, I feel there's something off about that sentiment. I get that there are issues, issues I will never understand because of my racial and financial privilege, so maybe I'm out of line for saying that? But while I do acknowledge that there are people who make bad choices, I think we stigmatize far too much instead of looking at the real problems.

For example, I know someone who is chronically unemployed, and it's clearly due to an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. There is no other way of looking at it, the woman is clearly very, very sick. But because she isn't working, she can't afford to get treatment, and because she can't afford to get treatment, she can't hold down a job. See the problem? So yes, it seems she "makes bad choices," but how can she make good ones if her illness prevents her from it?

[wpadmirer]

It seems to be written from a place of privilege.

[greghousesgf]

yeah, I agree.

[chomiji]

Bingo.

It sounded so damn white to me that it really got my back up ... and I'm a white (Ashkenazi) Jew.

It also sounded like they were so sure that they knew what MLK would think, and my reaction to that was, Oh yeah? And you know this how?

[siderea]

It's easy to know what MLK would think: he told us. At length. In his writings and speeches.

The problem isn't that the LW can't know. The problem is that the LW is simply wrong.

[silveradept]

Based on what I have read of what Dr. King wrote, and how he was treated while he was alive, I am pretty sure he would not favor many of the things the letter-writer talked about. Dr. King seemed remarkably uninterested in individualist White liberalism as presented by the letter and was much more a fan of collective action and leveraging what connections you had, whether to your community, to your church, or to the heavens themselves to produce a more just and equitable society.

So I'd say your "wow" is spot on.

[konsectatrix]

Kinda wanna smack the LW, tbh. I'll second your 'wow.'

If she's not masquerading, she's quite ignorant.