oebeit I find myself dreading MLK celebrations (almost as much as the inane Yuletide frivolity that unfortunately rings in a New Year of foolishness), but for an entirely different reasons. First, mayhap I should offer a disclaimer. Lest, I’ll drift into The Outer Limits of irrational thinking in the malleable minds of brothers and sisters wont to deify our media anointed Black icons posthumously. For sure, I fully understand why Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the second coming of Jesus the Christ for Black America.
Yet, he was misunderstood, ridiculed and killed just like the Messiah. And you can queue up The Twilight Zone theme all you want to, but that’s gospel. Hey, you might as well pray with me on this one, because you know I’m right.
Square business, MLK had stopped dreaming and started dealing with this racist nation from a real world Black perspective when he was killed. Henceforth, it tortures my soul to hear history illiterate brothers and sisters turn MLK’s legacy into an intellectual Trojan horse for our clueless children. Hey, I see those proud teachers applauding our little urchins when they regurgitate the insidious misinformation that “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave us our freedom,” on the stages of their separate and unequal schools indigenous to underserved, crime and drug infested ‘hoods. Unfortunately, Black leaders allowed evil in high place to whitewash our civil rights history to distort MLK’s dream to be a tribute to a diverse land of the free, rather than a reprimand of hard hearted racist that’s our worse nightmare.
If you check our editorial you’ll see where I’m coming from. In addition, our front feature speaks of the nightmare. Meanwhile, let’s cut to the chase. Black teachers tend to misinterpret the word “Brotherhood” to mean integration, when teaching our children to parrot Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Etymology dictates that the noun is originated as Middle English’s brotherhede, brotherhod, alteration of brotherrede, simply translates to a group of people who work together. Then again, shallow minded Black leaders unwittingly interpreted the late, great James Brown’s civil rights anthem wrong. For sure the Godfather of Soul’s “I’m Black and I’m Proud” galvanized the civil rights movement of the 60s. Even so, it doesn’t say that we’re proud to be Black. What it says is that I’m a proud person who just happens to be Black.
Listen carefully to “Now we demand a chance to do things for ourself We’re tired of beatin’ our head against the wall And workin’ for someone else We’re people, we’re just like the birds and the bees We’d rather die on our feet Than be livin’ on our knees Say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud,” and you’ll hear I’m too proud to beg (for your used stuff, leftovers and crumbs from your banquet tables that’s locked behind the doors of discrimination), so just open the damn door of opportunity and I’ll get it for myself. Did I hear you say I was a crazy old African warrior in my dotage? Okay, let’s ask Run DM-C, who evidentially translated I’m Black and I’m Proud to mean “You know I’m proud to be Black y’all And that’s a fact y’all And if you try to take what’s mine I take it back y’all - it’s like that.”
Verily, verily, my dear brothers and sisters, hear me when I say that Black America’s only salvation is to go back to our past and reconnect with our history to enhance our future. I’m talking when proud Black people refused welfare (Established nationwide in 1920 for World War I vets), no matter how poor we were. Brother’s only asked the good Lord to bless them to rise each day with sound minds, good health and strength. Shazam! Strong Black men took care of their family by the sweat of their brow. Or, mayhaps, by any means necessary. I wonder if anybody knows where I’m coming from?
