OPINION: From repurposing the words of MLK to declaring that “America is not a racist country,” the gaslighting of Black people in AmeriKKKa continues.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more
During a Twitter Spaces (again, I refuse to call it X, idc idc idc) conversation with Elon Musk presidential hopeful Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., on MLK Day, Ackman did the thing white people do when they take the words of Dr. King and twist them into a statement that is upholding white supremacy.
According to NBC News, not only did Ackman write a lengthy post on his Twitter account in which he stated “DEI is racist,” but he said during the Twitter Spaces conversation that MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech “is precisely about a world where people will be judged not by the color of their skin but the content of their character. And when I came to learn about the DEI movement, which is an ideological movement, it’s really the reverse of that.
“I think Dr. King would be very opposed to this sort of ideology, even though, you know, diversity is a good thing, even though, of course, a culture where everyone feels comfortable and included is critically important,” he added.
I’ve written before about the misappropriation of Dr. King’s words by white people who want to pretend that Dr. King was in favor of a “colorblind” society. As I said last year on the anniversary of his assassination by white people who disagreed with any and everything he stood for:
One of the biggest lies ever told about King is that he believed in a colorblind society. This is false.
It is an idea derived from a 40-word passage from his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech in which he said, “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. I have a dream today.”
And if we are being honest, that 40-word passage has been whittled down to nine simple words “not be judged by the color of their skin.”
What King meant when he said that and what white people have twisted it to mean are two different things.
And:
That 40-word passage wasn’t a plea for everyone to be colorblind; it was a direct rebuke of the systems of whiteness and white supremacy that held Black people back. When he said “my four little children,” yes, he was speaking directly about Martin III, Dexter, Yolanda and Bernice, but it was also a metaphor for Black Americans as a whole. King wanted a better future for us all as Black people.
MLK was murdered for working tirelessly to see Black people treated equally in a country they helped to build from the ground up, but white people would have you think he spent all that time working to teach Black people that race and color were not the issue.
It’s annoying and infuriating and disgusting all at the same time, but it’s also AmeriKKKa in a nutshell.
America gaslights Black people because America wants to continue on with the status quo, and in order to do that, America has to pretend that speaking out against racial injustice and creating programs that level the playing field are the real problem.
Dear America: Whiteness and white supremacy are the real problems, but you know that. You just want to continue on in this abusive relationship while promising Black people that you are going to do better next time.
We won’t hold our breath.
Monique Judge is a storyteller, content creator and writer living in Los Angeles. She is a word nerd who is a fan of the Oxford comma, spends way too much time on Twitter, and has more graphic t-shirts than you. Follow her on Twitter @thejournalista or check her out at moniquejudge.com.
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