'A riot is the language of the unheard,' Martin Luther King Jr. explained 53 years ago
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'A riot is the language of the unheard,' Martin Luther King Jr. explained 53 years ago
Rioting and looting isn't new in America — and it isn't exclusive to any race . As areas of Minneapolis shifted from peaceful protest against the death of George Floyd to looting, arson, and vandalism on Wednesday and Thursday night, the King Center — founded by Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow to promote MLK Jr.'s "nonviolent philosophy and methodology" — posted this excerpt from King's 1967 "The Other America" speech at Stanford University.
Speaking two years after California's Watts riots in August 1965 and race riots in Harlem the previous summer, King spent a few minutes trying to explain the cause of rioting to his predominantly white audience.
America has consistently "taken a positive step forward on the question of racial justice and racial equality" only to follow it with "certain backward steps," King said . Because of widespread and widely ignored black poverty and racial injustice, "all of our cities are potentially powder kegs," he added, and "many in moments of anger, many in moments of deep bitterness engage in riots." King continued:
Let me say as I've always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. ... But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. [ Martin Luther King Jr., "The Other America" ]
You can read King's entire speech or watch it here . Peter Weber
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And so in a real sense our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. [ Martin Luther King Jr., "The Other America" ]
You could bet that had those been four black officers holding down a white suspect, they'd be in jail with charges filed against them within 24 hours.
I think that what happened in Minneapolis was not a matter of or caused by a "winter of delay" it was an example of outright racism and vicious cruelty. However, the rioting might well have been caused by the kind of frustration that King spoke about. I wonder how many millenia will have to pass before humanity will attain maturity.
Maturity will be reached when ignorance is eliminated....
Happy Friday Buzz!
King never encouraged or advocated rioting, destruction of property, arson, looting, vandalism or violence against innocent people.
He would be appalled by what's going on in Minneapolis and many other cities across the country. Charges are sure to filed against these white officers in the next few days...
so what did these riots accomplish...other than worsen race relations?
They tried kneeling peacefully, but conservatives had a big problem with that. In fact, here a sample Trump tweet:
How's that for lying about what kneeling meant and worsening race relations. Kneeling has never been a sign of disrespect, in fact, that's why Kaepernick chose it.
People say they are "surprised" that MLK should have acknowledged the inevitability of "riots" in situations like this, even though MLK very clearly states that riots are "the language of the unheard". If we had an ongoing fair and transparent process of white officers being punished when they shoot an unarmed black man (or any unarmed man) then there probably wouldnt be any riots in the aftermath of the death of a George Floyd. It is because that there are so few arrests and convictions of rogue cops who use their position to abuse people of color that the "riots" happen.
A lot of white cops in urban areas are racist. You can hide your head in the sand all you want but its not going to change the truth. Police forces need to do better at weeding the racists out.