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The New Breed of MLK Detractors Part 1
Throughout his life, civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had more detractors than allies. MLK became a global hero after his assassination in 1968, and President Ronald Reagan added to his legacy in 1983 by making his birthday a national holiday.
MLK still had detractors. Most of them were academics who disagreed with his political beliefs, but these opinions were mostly found in publications that few people read. For the most part, MLK was widely embraced, from the religious right to democratic socialists, and for decades, no one questioned whether his legacy was worthy of celebration.
That has changed in recent years.
There’s a new breed of MLK detractors. They are a group of Black Christian conservative Republicans who promote capitalism and oppose progressive Christianity, the social gospel, and Black liberation theology. These individuals feel MLK was not a hero at all. They argue that MLK does not deserve any national recognition because America should not celebrate a Marxist sympathizer. Some go even further and point out the self-proclaimed communists in MLK’s inner circle and insist, like J. Edgar Hoover, that MLK was a communist too.
There’s one key question these new MLK detractors should have asked before attempting to make a name for themselves by attacking MLK. Should we fault a person for the affinities they developed during their formative years?
It’s…