Political Ruminations

Interior Secretary Salazar Orders Controversial Quote on MLK Monument to be Replaced

  AP photo

The beautiful and imposing Martin Luther King Jr. monument sits on the National Mall, with the quote in question visible from the Southwest view (see image). The inscribed quote is actually a paraphrase, and has inspired controversy since prior to the dedication of the monument.

The inscription currently reads:

“I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.”

Rachel Manteuffel, of the Washington Post:

“When I looked up the King quote, I found that the sin was actually worse than simply shoe-horning in an uncharacteristically immodest statement. The quote carved into the memorial on the Mall is not what Martin Luther King Jr. said. This is the equivalent of a Hollywood publicist pulling four words out of context from a newspaper review to make a bad film seem good. Except in this case, it’s the reverse: It takes the good out of context and makes it bad.” 

The actual quote, from a sermon Martin Luther King Jr. gave at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta in1968, was as follows:

 “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”

The paraphrased quote is clearly incorrect, and inadequate even as a paraphrase, and changes entirely the meaning of what Dr. King actually said,  and thus the righteous controversy.  Maya Angelou to the Washington Post:

“The quote makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit...It makes him seem less than the humanitarian he was...It makes him seem an egotist." She also pointed out, "The 'if' clause that is left out is salient. Leaving it out changes the meaning completely.”

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has now ordered that the paraphrase be removed and that the quote be correctly inscribed, with the goal for completion set to be by Dr. King’s birthday in January 2013.

Kudos to the Obama administration, and to Secretary Salazar in particular, for ordering this rightful correction to the monument of an American hero to be made.

Morning Quote: Martin Luther King

A huge supporter of labor, Martin Luther King, Jr. on the accomplishments of the labor movement:

The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress. Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old-age pensions, government relief for the destitute and, above all, new wage levels that meant not mere survival but a tolerable life. The captains of industry did not lead this transformation; they resisted it until they were overcome. When in the thirties the wave of union organization crested over the nation, it carried to secure shores not only itself but the whole society

Morning Quote: MLK

Martin Luther King Jr. was a huge supporter of the labor movement; this is one of his most memorable quotes re labor:

History is a great teacher. Not everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them.

Morning Quote: Martin Luther King

Yesterday, April 4, marked the 43rd anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death at the hands of an assassin. He died fighting for the rights of the working class.

On April 3, 1968, King traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, where he delivered his famous “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” speech, during which he endorsed a “human rights revolution” based around eradicating racism, poverty, and militarism.

King had arrived in Memphis to support a strike by the city’s sanitation workers, who struck to gain collective bargaining rights and better conditions following the deaths of two city workers in an accident. King called upon the city to respect the “dignity of labor,” saying that all workers deserved fair treatment. He also said it was a crime for a rich country like the United States to pay some people starvation wages. Documentary footage from the AFSCME union captured King’s address to the workers:

Watch:

Dr. King, in Memphis:

You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor. So often we overlook the work and the significance of those who are not in professional jobs, of those who are not in the so-called big jobs. But let me say to you tonight that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth. You are reminding not only Memphis but you are reminding the nation that it is a crime for people who live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages.

Morning Quote: Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1961 Marther Luther King Jr. spoke of the right-wing attempts to destroy labor unions:

In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right to work'…Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone.…Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights.

MLK Rallies for Working People – Glenn Beck Attacks MLK

Ed Schultz and Ben Jealous discuss Martin Luther King Jr.’s support for economic justice for the working people of America, and refute Glenn Beck’s charge that it was all about race. Schultz: "King's message was that racial and economic justice were inseparable."

Watch:

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Morning Quote: Martin Luther King Jr. on the Labor Movement

From a speech to the AFL-CIO Illinois state convention on Oct. 7, 1965, emphasis mine:

The labor movement was the principal force that transforme­d misery and despair into hope and progress. Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployme­nt insurance, old-age pensions, government relief for the destitute and, above all, new wage levels that meant not mere survival but a tolerable life. The captains of industry did not lead this transforma­tion; they resisted it until they were overcome. When in the thirties the wave of union organizati­on crested over the nation, it carried to secure shores not only itself but the whole society.

I wish he were here to advise us today.