As we honor Martin Luther King Jr. on this day we would do well to remember the things Dr. King fought for and not simply how he is portrayed by the government, school system, and mainstream media. Dr. King stood for many things in his life and work. It is true that stood for equality and dreamed of a time when all races and ethnic groups could live in equality and harmony. But Dr. King was clearly an extremely liberal political leader.

• Dr. King believed in “Self Determination” arguing that no paper can give us freedom but that the oppressed needed to demand it in action, “his own emancipation proclamation.”
• Dr. King also did not simply identify segregation as a product of racism, but also as a product of White Supremacy. In the video clip below Dr. King spoke of how racism has been ingrained into the minds of people that being “White” is “pure” and being Black is “Evil.”

Dr. King was anti-imperialist and said,

“The war in Vietnam is an unjust war…that puts us against the self determination of a people.”

Dr. King chose non violence as a tactic to expose the brutal nature of US racism.

He knew Whites Supremacy had set the stage for discrimination by defining Blacks as inferior, animal-like, dependent and savage. Dr. King also knew Whites saw themselves as pure, holly, chosen and superior. Dr. King recognized that, unfortunately, the only way to build public opposition in the US and world wide to US Racism was to expose its brutality.

But Dr. King also saw the practical need for the non violence in that he knew that violence by Blacks would lead to brutal repression and death on a mass scale. A risk he was not willing to take.

•  Dr. King once said, “I admire freedom fighters wherever they are but I still believe non violence is the strongest approach…The danger of [violence] is its futility.”

And for all you American Exceptionalists Dr. King warned that America was far too “Arrogant” and self righteous.

• Dr. King rejected that America was the chosen land for the chosen people. In fact he said, “Don’t let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine messianic force of the whole world…I can hear God saying to America, ‘your too arrogant…”

Dr. King believed in Socialism

• Dr. King was against poverty and even argued that Socialism was the only truly just economic system. Dr. King saw equality as not just social rights to shop together, Dr. King saw economic equality as core to any real justice among all races. In fact, Dr. King’s efforts before he was assassinated included campaigns against poverty and for economic opportunity and equality.

A great collage of Dr. King’s most poignant statements.

These statements demonstrate clearly that Martin Luther King Jr. was against war and for peace, against poverty, and for economic equality, against White Supremacy and for Black self determination, and against American arrogance and for international (and personal) fraternity.

Don’t believe the hype and coercive adaption of MLK by our school system and commercial media. We, the people, honor MLK because as working people, non-Whites, and as peace loving, anti-war advocates because he fought like hell for us … and was killed for it.