Martin Luther King was a well-known activist for Black peoples’ and worker’s rights. After many years of fighting racism and oppression from the establishment, he shared insights on some of his findings of the unjust opposition to rightful change, which may surprise a few of us who are still learning about his figure:
“I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
We’ve recently seen widespread liberal rejection of grassroots progressive movements such as Black Lives Matter, the protests against western collaborationism in the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and many so-called “progressives” dedicating more time to finding the mistakes committed by non-western regimes than those of their own nations, and calling “Tankies” to those who are a bit further to the left than us. Let us consider if we ourselves are the moderates that Dr. Luther King was talking about, and let’s push for the change we actually want rather than bickering about who’s “too far to the left”
As if that communist agitator knows anything.
And here we are 62 years after Letter From A Birmingham Jail fighting the same fights and having the same conversations about income inequality, racism, and basic human rights. Its as if the liberals that claim to support these issues are not doing shit. They tell us progress takes time, in the words of James Baldwin ‘how much time do you want for your progress?’
