Monkeyfist.com

The Real MLK

by Niel BORNSTEIN

Monday, 17 January 2000

.....

"Dr. King wasn't killed because he had a dream", [Rev. Michael Eric] Dyson reminds us.

Nowhere in these almost-cartoonish images, Dyson declares, is the King who vehemently opposed the Vietnam War, urged civil disobedience and even favored reparations for descendants of slaves.

Far from diminishing King, Dyson's discomfittingly honest, three-dimensional portrayal is infinitely better than the deification -- Disneyfication? -- of King to which we are usually subjected on this day. Happy Birthday, Doc.

For a perfect example of the Disneyfication of Dr. King, see the image Amazon.com has been running all day today:

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See also Sleeping Through a Revolution <http://monkeyfist.com/articles/57>
This is The Real MLK <http://monkeyfist.com/articles/65>