What MLK Would Think Today: Difficult Days Ahead

Today the United States, and its citizenry, will celebrate the first (and only) national holiday honoring a black man or, in today's parlance "a person of color.” Once again, as it replays itself annually, we find ourselves paying superficial homage to the life and times of Martin Luther King, Jr. And, like old reruns of the I Love Lucy show, we know the outcome but revel in the nostalgia.

At the White House Rose Garden on November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was observed for the first time thirty-seven years ago; on January 20, 1986. The holiday unofficially kicks off what is known as "Black History Month" which occurs in February; the shortest month of the year. Depending on one's perspective, it is a day that celebrates "progress.” To others, it is a day of mourning.

It is a day which European- Americans use to ease their dis-ease with pro forma, perfunctory and obligatory statements and queries such as: "what would Dr. King think today?" Or, my personal favorite, has "the dream been realized?" Those familiar with my opinions know that it matters not to me if "the dream" has been realized, that is an oxymoron; as "dreams,” by their very nature, cannot be "realized".

The prerequisite to dreaming is being asleep. One must be asleep in order to dream for reality is often a nightmare and in order to experience reality one must be awake. Ironic, that.

Life has taught me to be quite careful about labels; and being a Black Man in the United States has caused me to be hypersensitive about same. I am particularly leery of labeling myself as an "American.” For if I am, I am unlike every other American because my Americanness is by default. Nonetheless, for the literary purposes of this mission, I will loosely apply the label to self.

The United States is replete with sleepwalkers; both black and white. I think that Dr. King would be astonished at the optics of the United States, today. I think he would be astonished to see that a brown man, a "negro,” has been the president of the United States. In a more generic sense, he would clearly be astonished at the technology that exists today just as my grandparents were when television showed up; or my parents when Sputnik was launched or the first person, albeit allegedly, landed on the moon. Even I am astonished at the technological marvels of my time: from rotary-dial telephones in the 70's to tiny, wireless devices that people carry around in their pockets that they can watch television on, send messages and do all manner of fantastic things.

However, when we speak on Dr. King and, by extension, "civil rights" the universe is narrowed considerably. I think Dr. King would be astonished to see that there have been black senators, governors, mayors, and astronauts. Those things, politically speaking, I think he would find astonishing. He would, probably, find it astonishing that there was a national holiday in his honor (though still poorly observed). Though I do not agree with either the tactics or strategy of the so-called "civil rights movement" (particularly Dr. King's), I do have a deep and abiding admiration for his intellect.

So, let's dispense with the optics and discuss the more substantive issues that I believe Dr. King would find astonishing. I think Dr. King would be astonished at the fact that the United States is involved, and has been involved, in perpetual wars. You see, one of Dr. King's last speeches was entitled "Beyond Vietnam.” In my mind, it was his most significant but white folks didn't like that one.

Dr. King would be astonished, given the aforementioned speech, that the United States has not only learned nothing from Vietnam but has, in fact, doubled-down on its global oppression and war mongering to the point that virtually its entire economy is based on same. He would be astonished to see the millions of innocent people killed, many of them children, by the United States resultant of these wars. I think he would find it astonishing, particularly in light his first astonishments (those which are political and social) of a black president and the corresponding optics, that the black president presided over the very type of global racism and oppression that he spoke of in Beyond Vietnam. I think he would be both astonished and chagrined at that fact. He would be horrified at the genocide taking place in Palestine and would be speaking out against it.

Dr. King would be astonished at the number of Black People in the United States, including children, that continue to be lynched, and summarily executed via extra-judicial processes by state assassins (or quasi-state assassins). He would be astonished that it remains, today, a fact that European-American civilians are encouraged by a social and political structure that whistles to them, be it overtly or covertly, that it is okay to oppress and murder Black People in the United States with relative impunity. They may, in fact, murder a black child and sell the murder weapon at huge profit.

He would be astonished that from the time he walked this earth until now, the social metrics that he was so concerned about (particularly regarding Black People in the United States) have not significantly changed and are, in many cases, worse. Police abuse and misconduct, inferior schools, under employment, poverty, poor health care and discrimination therein, incarceration, etc. He would be mortified.

Dr. King would be displeased that Black People in the United States, especially the young, utilize the word "Nigga" as a term of endearment. He would be saddened that an entire genre of entertainers would throw that dreadful term around in both film and song making it mainstream to the point that other ethnicities cavalierly use the term amongst themselves and in front of Black People in the United States. He would be disappointed to see young black men (boys) walking around with their pants "saggin" and their underpants exposed. He would be dispirited at the lack of respect shown among Black People in the United States to each other and the resultant disregard for each other. He would wonder what has happened to us. Hopefully, he would ask me because I could tell him.

Dr. King would be perplexed, at the very least, as to how the United States has sunken to a level of moral depravity that would allow an imbecilic, racist pig to be elected president in the wake of that negro president of which he was so astonished. He would be very alarmed at the "State of the Union" and would see "difficult days ahead.” Dr. King once said: "Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.” Dr. King would, were he here today, realize that his dream is not just a dream, but a fantasy.

Most poignantly, he would find that America's heart is still...black.

Difficult Days Ahead

In his famous "Mountaintop" speech, Dr. King said "I don't know what will happen now, we've got some difficult days ahead.” He would be assassinated the next day. So-called Americans constantly reference dreams. There is the "American Dream" which becomes a reality for relatively few. There, most recently, are the immigrants labeled as "Dreamers" and, of course, there was Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The mere fact that these things are described as dreams is the societal blunt force trauma that they are not real.

Sometimes, at least I believe, death is mercy. Tragic as it were, Dr. King would not recognize the nation he so suddenly left. Oh, he would recognize the continued apartheid of those that looked like him and the resultant marginalization; but I don't think he would have imagined that more than half a century after his death the United States would have a president that had been impeached twice, indicted on 91 criminal charges, is likely to hold the office again and makes Bull Connor look like a bleeding heart liberal.

I don't think that Dr. King would have imagined almost half a million Americans dead at the hands of a pandemic that, true to form, has disproportionately impacted the people he was most concerned about. If Dr. King witnessed white supremacists climbing the walls of the United States Capitol he would be stunned beyond his capacity to manage. Though he probably would not be stunned to know that law-enforcement/slave patrollers aided and abetted that horrific manifestation.

The United States has about 160,000 troops deployed in active combat zones across the planet. As a toddler, I remember seeing armored personnel carriers in the streets of Los Angeles and it was not a dream though I dream that it were. In 1992, I would see the very same thing; that, too, was no dream. I have been in all manner of combat and I can say with great certainty that combat, of any type, is a terrible thing and no true warrior is desirous of it. Despite these realities, I am paralyzed by what I have witnessed in the United States in the past year and staggered at the future for this nation to whom I am a prisoner as were my ancestors.

The third U.S. President, racist, slaver, pedophile and rapist, Thomas Jefferson, stated: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.” Proof positive that even a broken clock is right at least once a day. I am confused about the United States. And though I have always been in a state of confusion pertinent to the United States, that confusion is now at a level I could have never imagined. To reference this state as some manner of sensory overload would be a less than anemic description.

I have some tendency to mention my father in many of my columns because there are few things in life, I have experienced, that don't cause me to think of something he taught me. One Christmas, I asked for some specific type of toy as my parents would generally comply with my wishes on that one day. However, Christmas morning came and I looked under the tree over and over again for the toy; it was not there. It was like what happens when your car gets stolen; you know where you parked it but you walk all around the block thinking maybe you put it somewhere else. Funny, the things the mind will do in an attempt to appease itself especially when shocked.

In any event, there was something very prominently displayed under the tree that confused me and I certainly didn't ask for it. It was two pairs of Everlast boxing gloves. A pair of 9 ounce gloves and a pair of 10 ounce gloves. I would soon find out that one was for me, the other...for him. I was ten years old that Christmas. It would take me many, many years to understand the reasons why he bought those gloves.

My father became a prize fighter at a very young age, and also was a Golden Gloves champion. As a United States Marine he was on the boxing team and was also a weaponless defense/non-lethal combat specialist; he knew how to use his hands. He would take me out to the backyard (which was concrete) and teach me the basics of boxing, if I was lucky. Because "the gloves,” as he called them, also replaced the belt as his preferred tool for corporal discipline.

During these sessions he would constantly tell me to keep my hands up and "jab, jab, jab!" If I dropped my hands there was a price to pay; if I didn't jab I got lit up. He taught me that the jab was to be deployed rapidly to confuse the opponent and that, eventually, the opponent will become so dazzled by the rapidity that they would never see the right hand coming. The jab causes both confusion and distraction.

The American people have taken more jabs than I think they can handle; I hope that I am wrong. Dr. King enjoyed boxing and I think he would look at the situation in the country today and say that there are not only difficult days ahead, but that the right hand is yet to come. For the very first time in my life, I find myself having something in common with Thomas Jefferson in that "I tremble for my country" as there are difficult days ahead.