State of White Supremacy during MLK and today
Today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and there is much to know, especially with the upcoming African American History Month. I will be coming from different perspectives, since I have been in a long range of groups (nationalist, liberal, etc.) sorts of groups before thinking in a Marxist and Maoist perspective. So please clarify me if you think I am wrong, and don’t hesitate to critique my works, since I know I am still developing my analysis of this world.
We know Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born today, but what is there much to learn about MLK and the political scene around him? We know MLK was a civil rights activist for non-violence. Malcolm X was critical of the "Negro Revolution", he spoke of in his speech There is No Such Thing as a Non-violent Revolution. He was critical of accommodation of his people in to a white ruling society. These these he was critical of were voting, being able to eat in restaurants, and riding in desegregated buses, and sitting in the toilets next to white people. Much of MLK’s ideology of non-violence was rooted from Gandhi. Much of what most people know was that Gandhi focused much on his passive resistance, but what most don’t know was that Gandhi may have been actually a racist in the end, as this article explains (http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/gandhi/hunt.html). I can’t use it against MLK for Ghandhi’s own mistakes.
MLK to many Americans, was the epitome of the civil rights movement. The reason for this is that many Americans feel closer to him, mostly from this bourgeois attitude of society. Being treated equally, not for race, but for one’s content. His movements were all liberal responses to racism and white supremacy. However, MLK had a lack on the effectiveness on the state of White Supremacy, instead focused on racism. The current state of white supremacy today, is still around. For example, job discrimination, economic inequality, political involvement, and low graduation rates still increasing for a lot of African Americans today. MLK actually did much more than what the majority of Americans and high school textbooks tend to say about him. There is much to learn about MLK than just his March on Washington and the "I have a dream" speech. We should study him, more than just the way most people want to feel safe with him.
In the past, there was a lot of racism present during this time, for the privilege of mainly whites. It was needed in that time, especially the unity for all people of color against the ruling group of people, who were predominantly white. Legal changes and demonstrations continued to stop white supremacy and racism, but there was a lack of focus on the working class of all Americans and people in the world. There was a lack in realizing other people were being oppressed as well, not only African Americans struggling in economic inequality, especially with the increasing poverty thresholds. With all these movements, all these elements still occur on a daily basis, obviously it can not be abolished overnight, but at least decrease with more people being conscious of what is going on.
The state of white supremacy can be seen in the global context, as foreigners have more privilege than even their own native citizens. Such as, the case of Thailand, where many tourists, from Europe and America go there for prostitutes, some who are pedophiles. A large chunk of Thailand’s economy is reliant on tourism, however, there are other races who take advantage of this privilege as well, but does not outnumber the amount of other whites.
In America, I believe that white supremacy is still present, but I take a different stand on this issue, since I have removed myself from nationalist analysis the past two years now. White supremacy should be taken care of, but I believe the focus should be on class issues, because it will unify all of us once and for all against capitalism that creates competition among the citizens of the world. Many American citizens have to rely on selfishness and ruthlessness to get a piece of the American Dream, this cause for the people is not only for one identity, it’s not for dominance of a group of people, and certainly is not to simply be part of capitalism, it is for equality for everyone. Unfortunately, MLK and Malcolm X did not live long enough to be able fully understand these are the true issues that the people need, though they began to realize these issues were important. No more class antagonisms, but more for the people.
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