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A Dream Realized

By | Posted Under Videos | Comments (33)

mlkingmug.jpg

I feel like I should say something profound for Martin Luther King Jr. Day (or Robert E. Lee Day in less advanced locales). I mean, I am, at present, Pajiba’s only regular African-American writer. While, certainly, Dr. King’s work transcends issues of race to address social, economic and cultural injustice in its myriad forms, one cannot deny his importance to the black community.

But if you only know the man from PBS documentaries or, worse, your toothless middle school history classes, you really don’t have any sense of his larger message. Dr. King wasn’t just a “black leader,” whatever the hell that is, or even a civil rights activist. He was a radical who opposed the Vietnam War and agitated for economic justice as ardently as civil rights for blacks. Like Muhammed Ali, he’s become a secular saint, stripped of his danger, but read this piece in the Huffington Post to get a sense of the man we’re talking about.

With all that as background, I can’t be sure that the following video represents Dr. King’s platonic ideal for American society. Unlike some, I’m not so arrogant as to presume to know the minds of dead men. That said, I hope he’d be tickled to know that in 2011, a beautiful black woman from Arkansas could perform yodeling ventriloquism at the Miss America Pageant.

Yep. The good doctor would be damn proud today.

Jason Harris believes the world would be a better place were it not for the actions of the FBI James Earle Ray, but he’s still not going to yodel.










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Comments

Some of you guys have Robert E. Lee day? Yeesh, Americans.

Posted by: Whalen at January 17, 2011 8:10 PM

Miss Arkansas was robbed!

Posted by: Nubbies Away at January 17, 2011 8:18 PM

I was alive then (though I was a wee lass; I was in third grade the year he was murdered) and I remember.

I don't think I'm overstating it to say that he very likely averted a second civil war. A different leader would likely not have had his dedication to nonviolence.

His calm and his simple decency shamed his detractors.

And no, I don't give a rat's ass how much white pussy he's supposed to have scored. If I'd been an appropriate age I'd probably have been one of them.

Posted by: Jerce at January 17, 2011 8:41 PM

THANK YOU. The only reason this guy is worshipped and we keep having to rename our streets after him is because he was murdered, so people say "oh, what could have been?" The same thing happened to Randy Rhoads, Kurt Cobain, Stevie Ray Vaughan, James Dean, etc. Had he lived his credibility would've been attacked due to his affairs and he would be placed on the same pedestal as the other poverty pimps, Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Posted by: Kris at January 17, 2011 8:52 PM

I mean, I am, at present, Pajiba’s only regular African-American writer.

Uhm, what about TK?

Posted by: jimmy at January 17, 2011 9:03 PM

@Kris: James Dean was a great actor.

Posted by: Whalen at January 17, 2011 9:10 PM

I loved the episode of the "Boondocks" where MLK wasn't killed, but he was in a coma and one day woke up in the modern era. He was hugely popular until he was asked about 9-11 and he of course expresses his view of forgiveness and anti-war...which turns everyone against him. He tries to create a march or at least get the African community together and it becomes an utter corporate mess.

Posted by: Diablo at January 17, 2011 9:22 PM

It's a fair cop, but Miss Arkansas was pushing the bi-racial angle through most of her time in Las Vegas.

That said, at least Caressa won last year. After Shilah Philips got robbed (and I say that with tongue firmly planted in cheek -- I mean, Shilah was a girl who dropped out of college to put all her eggs in the American Idol basket), I was wondering what another black woman would have to do to get back under that crown.

Posted by: Jerry at January 17, 2011 9:33 PM

She's an American HERO!

Posted by: Figgy at January 17, 2011 9:57 PM

Miss Arkansas goes straight to Nos. 1-3 on my Five Freebies list. Can you imagine?

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, I'm COMING!"

"Meeeeeeee tooooOOOOOOO!"

"YodelayheeeeeeEEEEEEEE!"

Posted by: , at January 17, 2011 10:16 PM

Jessie Jackson

There's always a misspelling.

I am bored to goddamn fucking death with how there's always a misspelling.

Bored, bored, bored.

Posted by: Jay at January 17, 2011 10:43 PM

@ Diablo

That episode of the Boondocks is one of the most uncomfortable 22 minutes of television I have ever seen. It made me sad, it made me laugh and it made me hopeful for a better future all at the same time. There are very few shows that can reach that level and that it was a cartoon is even more impressive.

Thank you Jason for the Huff Po link. That was a great read.

Posted by: schrome at January 17, 2011 10:55 PM

So Jerce, let me see if I’ve got this right. You’re saying that if you were of legal age when MLK was going around preaching civil rights you would have fucked him?

Posted by: Pookie at January 17, 2011 11:10 PM

Why does MLK get a pass on being a whore but Ted Haggard doesn't?

Posted by: Kris at January 17, 2011 11:35 PM


Kris I don't think anyone is standing in the way of Ted Haggard getting a pass. Both sinner and saint cast the same shadow.

Posted by: Pookie at January 18, 2011 12:06 AM

While I was in school in Virginia we had "Lee Jackson King Day," (Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Martin Luther King Jr). They finally split it into two separate holidays in 2000. I invariably had at least one classmate every year ask "Who was Lee Jackson King?" Sigh.

Posted by: Angeleno Ewok at January 18, 2011 12:15 AM

I think you spent Pajiba's comma quota. Comma quota.

Posted by: Seth at January 18, 2011 3:39 AM

Angeleno Ewok, that made me spew Coke Zero. "Who was Lee Jackson King?" BWAAAHAHAHAHA!!!

I nominate LJK for immediate deification in the Pajiba Pantheon.

And, tracer, posts like this are why I love Pajiba.

Posted by: Jelinas at January 18, 2011 3:47 AM

@Kris: if you stop reading the HuffPost article at the "letter"/Hoover FBI Intimidation, you *Really* missed the point....keep reading....seriously....

Posted by: anitra_larae at January 18, 2011 4:49 AM

Now I regret never having had a son. I could have named him Lee Jackson King.

Posted by: Jerce at January 18, 2011 9:44 AM

" I mean, I am, at present, Pajiba’s only regular African-American writer."

I'm sorry, Mr. Jason Harris, but every time I see your name, I visualize Jared Harris (Lane Pryce from Mad Men). That man is white enough to read by on a moonless night. And so are you, in my mind. When you write for Pajiba you are black letters on a white ground. You are not a race or an ethnicity. You are a friend.

Posted by: BWeaves at January 18, 2011 9:45 AM

You know, it's perfectly OK to acknowledge that Robert E. Lee was a hell of a general and a remarkable man while also acknowledging that he fought on the wrong side of history. Same with Stonewall Jackson, who has a state park named for him here.

Same could be said, for another instance, of Irwin Rommel. This is from Wiki:

"Rommel is regarded as a humane and professional officer. His Afrikakorps was never accused of war crimes. Soldiers captured during his Africa campaign were reported to have been treated humanely. Furthermore, he ignored orders to kill captured commandos, Jewish soldiers and civilians in all theaters of his command."

He was also a Nazi. So does the fact his efforts came in the service of an evil cause negate his tactical brilliance and any other good qualities he may have had?

Just another reminder that the winners get to write the history books.

Posted by: , at January 18, 2011 11:08 AM

I still can't get over that MLK was a year older than I am right now when he DIED. Not when he did his work, but when he was murdered. I am so useless.

"Just another reminder that the winners get to write the history books."

Really? Because there's an enormous number of sentimental books about Southern history written by Southerners.

Posted by: samantha t at January 18, 2011 11:50 AM

Gee, Kris, some of us rever him cause we like to pick our own seats on a bus. Some of us rever him cause we like to eat IN restaurants; not at the back door. Some of us like his work cause the whole fire hoses and attack dog thing just wasn't working for us.
I should have known better than to read the comments on this article. Sheesh.

Posted by: khia213 at January 18, 2011 12:14 PM

, I absolutely agree with you on Lee being on the wrong side of history. In middle school, I read that he freed his slaves very early on, and was actually asked to lead the Union army. The only reason he declined was because he was born in Virginia, and felt obligated to fight for the South. What is tasteless and embarrassing for me is that places that choose to celebrate his life (like my home state) do so concurrently with the celebration of a man whose mission was fundamentally at odds with (one of) the Confederacy's goals.

Posted by: Ian at January 18, 2011 12:20 PM

samantha t and ,
Yeah, my elementary and middle school text books stopped just short of calling it the War of Northern Aggression.

Ian, To me it just shows how tone deaf so many people in the south still are about race (kind of like a governor declaring "Confederate History Month" with no mention of slavery). I agree with you, embarrassing and tasteless.

Posted by: Angeleno Ewok at January 18, 2011 12:33 PM

I love that episode of the Boondocks, I love the Boondocks period. I hope McGruder gives us at least one more season.

Arg, Robert E Lee does not deserve the assholes that honor him.

Posted by: Mebe at January 18, 2011 2:56 PM

"I am, at present, Pajiba’s only regular African-American writer."

Token!

Posted by: Lindsey with an 'e' at January 18, 2011 4:21 PM

khia213,

You read so you, and pookie and Che, etc. can post your responses. We need more people around calling out the BS. Please don't give up out of frustration.

And Kris, without all the other responses eloquently stated above, you immediately derailed your own argument with your list of people, NONE of whom were murdered. Although, to be fair, your argument is none the stronger if you substitute James Dean up there with, oh, Sharon Tate.

Perspective, please.

Posted by: leuce7 at January 18, 2011 4:48 PM

Do You Know Who Said "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me?" Find out! Pop Quiz Charlie Brown - Where are you headed after THIS life? Shouldn't that concern You on the eve of 2012, the prophesied End of Days? TTC

Posted by: Tyson F. Gautreaux at January 18, 2011 10:49 PM

Praise God for You All! Nova McNeal's Newest Ebook http://tinyurl.com/Just-Moms

Posted by: Fidela Martiarena at January 18, 2011 11:42 PM

If I may interrupt the spambots for a moment ...

What is tasteless and embarrassing for me is that places that choose to celebrate his life (like my home state) do so concurrently with the celebration of a man whose mission was fundamentally at odds with (one of) the Confederacy's goals.

Posted by: Ian at January 18, 2011 12:20 PM
---
I note that King's actual birthday was Jan. 15 and Lee's is Jan. 19. This from Wiki:

The birthday of Robert E. Lee is celebrated or commemorated in:

The state of Virginia as part of Lee-Jackson Day, which was separated from the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday there in 2001. The King holiday falls on the third Monday in January while the Lee-Jackson Day holiday is celebrated on the Friday preceding it.

The state of Texas celebrates, as part of Confederate Heroes Day on January 19, Lee's actual birthday.

The states of Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi on the third Monday in January, along with Martin Luther King, Jr.

The state of Georgia on the day after Thanksgiving.

The state of Florida, as a legal holiday and public holiday, on January 19.
---
I'll grant you (see what I did there?) some of those are pretty weird. Virginia seems to have it completely backward, given Jackson's birthday is Jan. 21, so you'd think Lee-Jackson Day would need to come AFTER King Day. But the fact that the federal government force-feeds MLK Day onto a Monday, whether it's his real birthday or (most of the time) not, is not the fault of any of them.

Posted by: , at January 19, 2011 1:50 AM

God COMMANDS You to PROSPER in this Life. Don’t Believe it? See Matthew 25:14-30 and don’t Be Fooled, Those Who Do NOT Prosper with Their God Given “Talents” will End Up in HELL. Thrive through HIM Now! TTC Mat 25:14-30

Posted by: Karen Donnellon at January 19, 2011 8:03 AM

nice one ... not often you read something so cool

Posted by: strippers sydney at January 23, 2011 9:58 AM