MLK was so hated in his time that he was murdered for it, so I'm not sure that bringing him up is really anything but whitewashing. He said out loud All The Time in quite pointed language that didn't hold back that white folks were complacent and choosing their own comfort over equality. But when feminists say that about men they are bitter and out of line? It's a complete double standard!
“Why is equality so assiduously avoided? Why does white America delude itself, and how does it rationalize the evil it retains?
The majority of white Americans consider themselves sincerely committed to justice for the Negro. They believe that American society is essentially hospitable to fair play and to steady growth toward a middle-class Utopia embodying racial harmony. But unfortunately this is a fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity.”
Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn. The reality of substantial investment to assist Negroes into the twentieth century, adjusting to Negro neighbors and genuine school integration, is still a nightmare for all too many white Americans…These are the deepest causes for contemporary abrasions between the races. Loose and easy language about equality, resonant resolutions about brotherhood fall pleasantly on the ear, but for the Negro there is a credibility gap he cannot overlook. He remembers that with each modest advance the white population promptly raises the argument that the Negro has come far enough. Each step forward accents an ever-present tendency to backlash.
Where do we go from here… 1967
One could say all of those same things about gender equality - but if one did, she'd be labeled a raving bitch who doesn't know how to get her message across in a productive way. 🤷♀️
