Stop whitewashing Martin Luther King Jr.

Cameron Winick Staff Writer

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” This is one of many quotes from Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have a dream” speech. King was an advocate for civil rights, leading the march on Washington in 1963 and helping bring an end to the Jim Crow era of segregation. However, years have passed since his assassination and political culture has shifted.

Unfortunately, the modern discussion of King’s advocacy efforts feels completely toothless. Today, many people look at Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way they look at Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. He is looked at like a magical figurehead that stopped racism forever and is constantly being used for bad-faith arguments. While he is also seen as a figurehead on the left, it is right-wing politicians and pundits that constantly invoke King’s name in order to fuel their own agendas.

Over the years, Martin Luther King Jr. has been completely sanitized to the point that conservative politicians are now able to use King’s legacy to prevent programs that would actually reduce the racial-economic gap. The quote that I began the article with happens to be the main part of King’s speech that conservatives quote endlessly. Whenever there is any proposition to fund or input a new program that will give an advantage to impoverished black communities, there is always some sort of right-wing push back utilizing that one, singular quote in their argument. It genuinely baffles me how they believe that King would oppose ideas like reparations and socialism when King openly advocated for both.

King actively believed that capitalism was at the root of hatred and division. According to the In These Times publication, King is quoted saying, “Capitalism has often left a gap of superfluous wealth and abject poverty [and] has created conditions permitting necessities to be taken from the many to give luxuries to the few.” The very notion that King would oppose social institutions and programs in favor of helping the wealthy capitalists who kept him in a lower social class is ludicrous.

Many believe that when King told people to judge not by skin color but by the content of character, he was saying that everyone should be treated equally, no matter their ethnic background. While this is partially true, he also heavily advocated for what would come to be known as reparations. In an NBC News clip, King, while speaking to his supporters, said, “When we come to Washington in this campaign, we are coming to get our check.” He adamantly believed that the only way to properly diminish the racial gap was to give money and fund black communities and organizations straight from the government’s pocket.

Contrary to what has been taught regarding King’s legacy, he was never a moderate democrat who was well-liked by everyone in his era. King’s approval ratings during his life were so low that it would put the average politician to shame. The FBI infamously sent King an ominous letter that implored him to commit suicide, a fact that was uncovered only a few years after he was assassinated.

Were King alive today, I believe he would be disgusted with the image that the right has painted of him. Martin Luther King Jr. was a radical, socialist democrat who advocated for reparations, and to represent him as anything other than that is just dishonest.

“Don’t worry, Senior year will be a breeze.”

During the first semester, many seniors are buried under the pressure of college applications or their plans after high school, while also facing the stresses of their extracurriculars. In my case, and many others, we also have to keep our grades as perfect as they can be for the handful of elite colleges that are interested in seeing them.

I am a full International Baccalaureate (IB) student that is also on the Panther Prowler which, combined, has a rigorous workload. I am also the president of the Literary Magazine club and participate in multiple other clubs and activities. I am still expected to keep my grades near perfect, regardless of whether or not the pressure is off. Newbury Park has a significant group of senior year students in one or more IB classes that require a significant essay or some other giant project. Senior year, especially the first semester, is not to be taken lightly. I understand that I likely have more academic worries than your average high schooler, but I still have yet to meet anyone who is breezing through the final year. I still have hope for the second semester, but as of right now, my hopes are very low. May is testing month, and as a full IB student I will be out testing almost every day, so leading up to May the pressure is going to build.

Currently, I am in my second semester of my senior year, and I can confidently say that the “senior year is easy” belief is wrong. I understand where the statement is coming from. It’s coming from the idea of surpassing the dreaded “junior year” and also from the belief that when a student commits to their future, they can “check out.” I suppose it is true to a certain degree, although with most college decisions not being out, I don’t have that luxury yet.

Junior year is rough, to say the least. The amount of work increases significantly and expectations get higher, and by the time the year is finally over, it seems that nothing could be worse, and honestly, nothing is worse. However, don’t fall for the stigma that any year of high school is easy. The last year might be easier, depending on your classes, and the pressure might lighten as the second semester progresses, but don’t walk in as blindly as I did. Frankly, I was ready to check out and hold myself to the expectation of showing up and doing homework, but I quickly realized that I wouldn’t make it through that way.

Kai Mekari/Prowler

Throughout high school, I have discovered the danger of thinking anything will be easy. Take the classes you’re interested in and participate in clubs that you feel are important to you, but don’t walk in with the expectation that it will be easy. It’s not easy to adjust. It might get easier, in fact, it probably will get easier over time, but don’t concern yourself with what would make senior year (or at least the first semester) easy. It simply isn’t.