We are all pretty familiar with Godwin’s Law by this point:
Annually, around Dr. King day, we see too many people trot out tired, trite quotes from that speech.
Annually, just as many people (myself included), write about how ridiculous it is that Dr. King, his work, his legacy, his words are reduced and simplified down to a few quotes from one speech.
These people are often, though not always, white.
They are often, though not always, poorly educated on anything Dr. King did beyond giving his speech in D.C. in 1963--regardless of their identities because willful ignorance doesn't discriminate; it resides in anyone.
They likely, though not 100%, would not have given two damns about him had they lived during his time.
Goodness people. FGI. (fucking google it)
FG Dr. King's speeches and you might be surprised. Study the full breadth of his words, his ideas, his actions, his inducements.
Check out the website for The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford. Better yet, if you live near there, visit it.
Was Dr. King a rhetorical master and orator? Yes.
Was the August 1963 March on Washington speech powerful and a rhetorical gift from the gods? Yes.
Did he give a gazillion speeches and write texts that the average citizen could learn from then and today but rarely takes the time to study? Absofuckinglutely.
As I discussed in a previous post, stop trotting out this safe negro version of Dr. King. He was so much more than that one speech--so much more than a few quotes from that one speech. He lived for 4 years and almost 8 more months AFTER giving that speech. He continued working tirelessly towards civil rights, equality, and change. He gave A LOT OF FUCKING SPEECHES AFTER August 28, 1963 and many before!
AND as a lot of people are wont to ignore, his later speeches were less reconciliatory and peaceful than the "I Have a Dream" speech, but people prefer to trap him into that one speech and only maintain the safe negro image of Dr. King. Folks love to quote him now, but he was controversial AF and hated back then for these same ideas.
Realtalk: beloved and adored don’t get stabbings and assassins’ bullets.
And what’s more enraging is that most folks who invoke his "I Have a Dream" speech are often skewing its purpose, taking quotes out of context, and twisting it to suggest he stood for things he didn't. Many have never read or listened to the whole speech, and generally, only know Dr. King from what they learned the one day in each January when we pay all the attention to him (which sometimes gets shared with fucking Robert E. Lee in some states) and maybe a day or so in February when American schools feign appreciation and acknowledgment by attempting to remember that black people helped build this country. The “homage” and "honoring" is laughable. STOP! It honors nothing!
We honor Dr. King by remembering and studying as much of his words and lessons that we can, by paying attention to what his daughter Dr. Bernice King reminds us and imparts to us.
We do not honor him by invoking empty broken quotes from his “I Have a Dream" speech.
But I know when folks do this, the goal isn’t to honor Dr. King, it’s merely to attempt to shut down an argument--the same way the original Godwin’s Law does.
Godwin’s Law is a bullshit tactic, and the GP Law is a bullshit tactic.
Study the man and all his words. Stop with the bullshit tactics.
Pay attention.
Be informed.
Take part.
Stop the bullshit.
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches.Well, I’m declaring a new law as a derivative of this one; I’m calling it the GP Law (GP for Goddess Professor, of course). It goes as such:
As an online discussion that’s related to race (racism, race-based prejudices, or those perceived as such) grows longer, the likelihood of someone invoking a Dr. King quote from “I Have a Dream” speech increases.We see this shit all the time. I am SO tired of it.
Annually, around Dr. King day, we see too many people trot out tired, trite quotes from that speech.
Annually, just as many people (myself included), write about how ridiculous it is that Dr. King, his work, his legacy, his words are reduced and simplified down to a few quotes from one speech.
These people are often, though not always, white.
They are often, though not always, poorly educated on anything Dr. King did beyond giving his speech in D.C. in 1963--regardless of their identities because willful ignorance doesn't discriminate; it resides in anyone.
They likely, though not 100%, would not have given two damns about him had they lived during his time.
Goodness people. FGI. (fucking google it)
FG Dr. King's speeches and you might be surprised. Study the full breadth of his words, his ideas, his actions, his inducements.
Check out the website for The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford. Better yet, if you live near there, visit it.
Was Dr. King a rhetorical master and orator? Yes.
Was the August 1963 March on Washington speech powerful and a rhetorical gift from the gods? Yes.
Did he give a gazillion speeches and write texts that the average citizen could learn from then and today but rarely takes the time to study? Absofuckinglutely.
As I discussed in a previous post, stop trotting out this safe negro version of Dr. King. He was so much more than that one speech--so much more than a few quotes from that one speech. He lived for 4 years and almost 8 more months AFTER giving that speech. He continued working tirelessly towards civil rights, equality, and change. He gave A LOT OF FUCKING SPEECHES AFTER August 28, 1963 and many before!
Realtalk: beloved and adored don’t get stabbings and assassins’ bullets.
And what’s more enraging is that most folks who invoke his "I Have a Dream" speech are often skewing its purpose, taking quotes out of context, and twisting it to suggest he stood for things he didn't. Many have never read or listened to the whole speech, and generally, only know Dr. King from what they learned the one day in each January when we pay all the attention to him (which sometimes gets shared with fucking Robert E. Lee in some states) and maybe a day or so in February when American schools feign appreciation and acknowledgment by attempting to remember that black people helped build this country. The “homage” and "honoring" is laughable. STOP! It honors nothing!
We do not honor him by invoking empty broken quotes from his “I Have a Dream" speech.
But I know when folks do this, the goal isn’t to honor Dr. King, it’s merely to attempt to shut down an argument--the same way the original Godwin’s Law does.
Godwin’s Law is a bullshit tactic, and the GP Law is a bullshit tactic.
Study the man and all his words. Stop with the bullshit tactics.
Pay attention.
Be informed.
Take part.
Stop the bullshit.
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