As another observance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday passed and we once again celebrate Black History Month, I’m still haunted by Jonathan Eig’s recent op-ed, “We have lost sight of MLK’s radical vision.” He argues that we have romanticized King’s message and “lost sight of his radical anti-poverty and anti-war visions.” Indeed, we have swapped out King’s radical visions for the safer and more convenient conclusion of his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Why is it considered “radical” to advocate for social equality and justice, when they are included as core values in the U.S. Constitution and other foundational documents? The only thing radical is that King had the audacity, in a time of war and social upheaval, to challenge Americans to live up to their own principles.
King’s views evolved throughout the 1960s, as the costs and casualties of the Vietnam War escalated. He didn’t simply call for his dream of social equality but identified the obstacles to achieving it: “the triple evils of poverty, racism and militarism.” He directly confronts these evils in his speech “Beyond Vietnam” and writings “Racism and the White Backlash” and “The World House,” which includes this warning: “When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.”
