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Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday to those, who celebrate his life. When I learned in a sociology textbook, years ago in college, that integration, accommodation, assimilation, miscegenation, and displacement via immigration were all forms of... moreHappy Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday to those, who celebrate his life. When I learned in a sociology textbook, years ago in college, that integration, accommodation, assimilation, miscegenation, and displacement via immigration were all forms of genocide for natives and slaves, I started to recognize MLK and other Black integrationists as a demographic of house slaves, helping whites to drive Black American slave descendants into extinction. In the link to an article by Tim Appelo in The Hollywood Reporter, dated February 2015, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/selma-sex-tape-controversy-mlk-774974, historian David Garrow, corrects the film, Selma, about historical inaccuracies. However, one thing that is confirmed according to Garrow's interviews with people, who knew MLK Jr., is that MLK Jr. had multiple extramarital affairs. The problem I have with Garrow is the following statement: "Only one [of King's girlfriends] was significant, and she's still alive." Garrow's attitude is that the extramarital affairs were totally okay or insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but only one mistress that MLK may have had romantic feelings for was the only one that should be important to us. As a historian, who interviewed people, who knew MLK, he knows that one woman's name and possibly all of the others, but won't release it. If government has imposed a holiday to make us all remember MLK, shouldn't we know about those other women or any illegitimate children fathered by MLK? Shouldn't we remember MLK for the man he really was rather than a false idol on a pedestal for us to worship and model ourselves after? From the viewpoint of a wife or a follower of a so-called "Man of god," all of MLK's affairs are all important even if he felt nothing for those women, whom he exploited. From the perspective of Coretta, his wife, even if she failed to confront him or hold him accountable, and the perspective of MLK's Black American followers, wouldn't the fact that this so-call "Man of god" had any extramarital affairs provoke doubt in his moral leadership and his character? Was MLK telling Black Americans that integration would make us equal, because he as a highly educated person with a PhD knows it will based on his education and research? Or, is he telling Black Americans we need integration, because he really wants to leave his already, light-skinned, Black wife for a white woman? Garrow interview of Coretta when she was alive confirms that she never confronted MLK on infidelity. According to Garrow, Coretta told him: "During our whole marriage we never had one single serious discussion about either of us being involved with another person. … If I ever had any suspicions, … I never would have even mentioned them to Martin." I guess back in those days, women felt they had no rights to hold their husbands accountable and they had no options in labor as single mothers to sustain themselves and their children. Back then, wives were defined by their husbands professional and financial accomplishments. Perhaps, if she felt that if she exposed him for the man MLK really was, she would bring shame to herself and her children. However, in our life times, we have seen ministers exposed for hypocrisy, infidelity, hiring prostitutes, or homosexual extramarital affairs. Shouldn't we scrutinize MLK's personal life too? MLK Jr. was a public figure. Shouldn't that make his infidelity fair game for religious, political, and historical analyses about his beliefs, teachings, and leadership? If there are FBI tapes that prove his wife couldn't even expect loyalty from MLK, shouldn't Black American slave descendants question MLK's loyalty to his Black American followers? If the wife of any kind of minister or politician could not expect loyalty from her husband, the followers or voters of any leader should question that person's leadership? Isn't it possible that there are illegitimate children out there, who did not inherit any money after MLK's death and should have or should be using the MLK Jr. name and intellectual property for their benefit and aren't? MLK's infidelity matters, because it means those of us, who have been brainwashed by teachers, historians, politicians, and the mass media to worship MLK Jr. as a secular idol or god, should now question whether integration is detrimental to us based on sociological principles rather than relying on a hypocrite for political guidance? That was Coretta's business for putting up with MLK's infidelity, but we have a government, forcing us and our kids to take a day of our lives or spend class time to honor a minister, who couldn't honor his wife, his religious beliefs, or his wedding vows. We have moral and scientific grounds to question integration through MLK Jr. and stop portraying him as "great" all of the time. Before he died, he realized integration would not be enough to make Black Americans equal, so he had planned to pursue a March on Washington for our reparations. Can those of us, who believe MLK sacrosanct, agree that he didn't know everything and had to learn from other Black Americans like Malcolm X that integration would not be enough? MLK's leadership was flawed, because he was flawed. He is the face of integration and integration continues to harm Black American slave descendants. We have to start portraying MLK Jr. for the way he really was and give him credit for realizing that Black Americans are owed our reparations. We are all flawed. MLK Jr. was flawed, but he grew by learning from others. MLK's infidelity gives Black Americans slave descendants grounds to demand scholars portray MLK as a human with a questionable agenda that ultimately harmed the Black American community, but he relaized the mistake right before he was killed. Integration and gentrification (as displacement) are forms of genocide for Black American slave descendants. Does MLK Jr." infidelity matter to any of you? Please explain why so or why not? #mlk, #integration, #genocide, #sociology, #selma, #infidelity, #coretta, #corettascottking, #davidgarrow, #idol, #hypocrasy, #idolworship, #mythology, #fiction. less
Historical veracity was a hot-button issue for Ava DuVernay's best picture-nominated biopic on Martin Luther King Jr. Sometimes, however, the truth is unknowable, as a top academic appraises two versions of the movie's script centered on scandal.
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