America Needs A White Version of Dr. Martin Luther King by Robert Covington Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most celebrated Americans that our country has ever produced. He was deeply human, patriotic and spoke with moral and ethical clarity that was rooted in a fundamental belief in the promise of this country. Dr. King’s analysis was also grounded in the reality of America’s lies, hypocrisy and propaganda that fostered a dangerous and inaccurate assumption in American exceptionalism. Dr. King stayed close to black and brown Americans that bore the brunt of America’s sins and spent his last days on earth fighting for economic and racial justice.
Dr. King will remain a towering figure in the lexicon of American history because he was driven by high human values of love, compassion and empathy that centered his life’s work. Dr. King carved out space to integrate these values into a narrative that focused on humanizing a nation that seemed determined to destroy itself.
It’s been fifty-one years since his death and America as a functioning democracy is crumbling right before our eyes. There are many reasons for this: the glorification of wealth within our society, the acceptance of white collar sociopaths and dangerous narcissists as leaders in business and politics, unsustainable inequality and the fetish allegiance of profit over people shape the American landscape of decline. Also, what should be clear to any honest American at this point, is America’s steady march toward anarchy and authoritarian rule is primarily driven by the lies of white supremacy to maintain white power with corrupt intent.
White Americans, by and large, have been conditioned and trained to hear the prophetic voices of black and brown Americans with caution, doubt and sometimes with outright refusal to hear our claims and concerns.
White Americans, by and large, have been conditioned and trained to believe that the fate of American progress cannot rest on the analysis of black thought.
White Americans, by and large, have been conditioned and trained to see the social construction of race and racism as inconvenient truths to annoying complaints. This is the reality.
For this reason, America needs a white version of Dr. King.
A white version of Dr. King would be taken more seriously by White Americans. And this is where the opportunity lies. White communities across the country are also dealing with varying degrees of pain, suffering, anxiety, doubt, fear and uncertainty about the future too. A white version of Dr. King would be a link in helping white communities see the human connection to black, brown and asian communities as we try to remake America into being more worthy of its name than it is now.
A white version of Dr. King would straightforwardly say to white Americans that the two times American democracy was at its most risk of failing, (the Civil War and the Trump presidency), cruel, rich and selfish white men under the flag of justifying whiteness was the reason. To stop blaming immigrants, black and brown Americans for our most serious ills. It is white Americans exercising corrupt power that is putting us on a path to self-destruction.
A white version of Dr. King would tell white Americans that the lies of white supremacy strives to make them psychologically sick, less human and more tolerant of inflicting pain and suffering onto others that don’t look like them. That for too long, white Americans have endorsed human atrocities, torture, racial disparities, governmental terror, individual and community acts of violence of non-whites in the name of silence, complicity and denial.
A white version of Dr. King would explain that white power and American power are fundamentally two different things and generates two different outcomes. That holding on to the idea and practice of white power in a multiracial society and democracy, inevitably creates tectonic levels of tension and unnecessary bloodshed. American power in a multiracial society and democracy requires a belief and investment into every citizen while seeing the enormous benefit of distributive power for the common good. And most importantly, to redefine what it is to be an American in human terms, not racial ones.
America is facing perilous times and as a group, white Americans have been used as a reliable source of protection for powerful white Americans to line their pockets and to create racial discord to their benefit. The fight to save the American experiment needs more white Americans speaking truth to corrupt power and dismantling the utility of whiteness. A white version of Dr. King would be a good place to start.
Follow me on twitter: @robcovingtonjr
