I went to the Martin Luther King march during the previous holiday. Although it was an interesting experience, I was concerned and amused by the many ironies present at the event, and the implications of these ironies.
Here are a few:
1. Many people brought their dogs along with them and many police officers were present both around and in the march. Whereas MLK and his fellow marchers often clashed with police. Often, members of law enforcement would beat down and arrest protesters. Along with nightsticks, smoke grenades and fire hoses, police officers would often sic dogs upon protesters.
2. Before the march and at the festival after the march, there was an overwhelmingly large presence of public officials. During MLK's time, the movement was against the people in power (and the segregation laws they supported); now, the people in power are part of the movement.
3. Even the professed messages were filled with irony. There was an official making a speech who said something to the effect of "This is not a holiday based on consumption like so many other holidays." However, at the end of the march, when we arrived at a celebration ground, what did we see? - with the exception of a band and a children's area, there was only food trucks and people trying to sell us stuff. Make no mistake— All American holidays are about consumption, at least to some degree. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, but no matter how you feel about it, it's important to be honest about consumerism's role.
4.There were a surprisingly large number of kids of various ages playing around, which there isn't anything wrong with inherently, but is implicative of what MLK Day marches have come to represent. Consider that the marches of King were serious affairs where people would get beaten up by the police and arrested for trying to gain basic human rights. The joviality of children just demonstrates how much loss of gravity these events have taken on.
5. Also demonstrative of the holiday's departure from its original meaning is the preponderance of people marching for a cause other than the racial equality that King advocated for. The causes I saw were mostly liberal concepts as well: There were banners advocating a universal living wage and a high school, and people were handing out socialist fliers and fliers to other events.
6. What perhaps bothers me the most was the repeated and Christian religiousness of the whole affair. There were at least 2 prayers by Baptist ministers (alongside other minister speakers) which ended with the phrase "In Jesus' Name" While I aware that King was a minister, many of the people he marched with were not Christians. Of some note, a few somewhat famous rabbis marched alongside King himself. Additionally, I guarantee you that not everyone in the crowd was Christian. As a non-Christian myself, I felt the inclusion of an exclusionary prayer as part of the official docket made me feel unwelcome.
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So what are we to make of this Martin Luther King Day March? There were 1000s of people marching and at the event afterwards, a larger group of people than I have ever been a part of, all people, to some degree, coming together to celebrate a great man's life and racial equality. But because of the reasons stated above, I believe the event has been warped from its original purpose and has become almost entirely meaningless.
I think you're conflating the March on Washington with other events of the civil rights conflict. Some parallels should be drawn between your march and the March on Washington:
ReplyDelete* At the end of the 1963 march, the activists met with President Kennedy and other political officials. At the time, Civil Rights legislation was working its way through the motions, and politicians indeed were a part of the movement. In fact, the march was delayed slightly because the leaders were in preliminary meetings with members of Congress beforehand.
* Among the demands made at the march, aside from civil rights, included universal schooling, and a $2 minimum wage.
* In order to assure the march went as planned, money was needed. To gather it, the organizers sold buttons, at 25 cents a piece, for months beforehand.
* Children were present at the original march, in large numbers. In fact, the SCLC received criticism for this, but they were present no less.
* In addition, there was a very heavy police presence, to prevent rioting, to prevent outside attacks, and to ensure that the march was peaceful. It was.
* God was omnipresent in the speeches of the march, each speaker talking about God's law and children of God. Make no mistake, this is a Christian God.
* Malcolm X and others criticized the march has being entirely meaningless and diluted, just as you have.
All valid points, but yes, I was primarily talking about marches in the South. And frankly, if I am on the same side as Malcolm X, I'm okay with that.
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