General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Yes, white men are being oppressed. [View all]Number23
(24,544 posts)But I'm always fascinated by the DU Story that "King was only assassinated after he moved to the discourse of economic justice for all."
What does this mean and why is DU just about the only place in the entire world that I've heard people make these comments? Are we supposed to believe that MLK was killed not for his work as a black rights activist (the work that made him a household name, the work that garnered him a Nobel Prize, the work for WHICH HE WAS KILLED) but for his positions MUCH later in his career as an activist when he started speaking about expanding economic justice for everyone?
The entire raison d'etre of King's existence was "economic justice." I am always astounded when whites on this board conclude that his positions on the garbage workers was some kind of "shift" for him. King was ALL ABOUT economic and social justice for everybody, but that began and mostly ended with black people. The man OPENLY WEPT when he discussed making life better for little black girls and boys. This was his mission. What do you think the race of those sanitation workers mostly were? Heck, what race do you think is over represented in the sanitation industry TODAY in 2012?
Every time I see the "he wasn't killed until he began to move away from just focusing on black rights" it's all I can do not to laugh. It is not only insulting but it shows a profound ignorance, imo. King was REVILED by whites. White people called him the anti-Christ. A communist. A "black devil." But yet somehow, according to some on DU, it wasn't until he began expanding his message to include poor whites that TPTB suddenly decided he was a threat. For every white person that may have been receptive to King's message, there were probably 87,000 that wanted nothing to do with him. His work stopping the apartheid in the South is generally held as the reason he was assassinated. His message of economic and social justice expanded to all, but it BEGAN and held the highest priority with his own people.