He was respectable. You’re not.

This morning I heard the last little bit of an interview of Mychal Denzel Smith on On The Media, a radio show heard on NPR. The segment was about how Martin Luther King Jr. is being subverted by modern culture. Smith has written an article in The Atlantic about other aspects that were discussed before I tuned him. I’ll start with the bit I did hear, which doesn’t appear to be in the magazine.

Back in 2013 I wrote about power and responding to it:

Charity that provides food, clothing, and shelter for the poor is good, but is of limited help. It does see an oppressed person through a period of difficulty. But there are two major drawbacks to charity.

* Charity cannot replace justice.

* Charity allows the giver to believe he or she has done enough, leaving the oppression in place.

Smith decried that Martin Luther King Day has become a day of service. The man who worked to dismantle oppression is honored with charity – which leaves the oppression in place.

I am disappointed that this day of service, this misuse of the great man’s legacy, was initiated by our black president. Alas, I didn’t catch this contradiction before now.

Now from Smith’s article:

Many people recognize King’s moral authority. But that can get misused.

King’s authority was crafted into representing the perfect black manhood. That’s something few can reach – and shouldn’t have to. Modern black men with sagging pants can’t match King’s black suit and white shirt. He was respectable. You’re not. He represented true black culture. Today’s black youth are seen as a perversion of that culture and thus can be dismissed.

If King’s philosophy, tactics, demeanor, and style are the standard, the people who fashion themselves as serious political thinkers have no reason to engage anyone who is not mimicking King. As such, they can limit the parameters of the debate to their sanitized, cuddly version of King’s politics. And without an infusion of differing viewpoints, the status quo is protected, and American institutions can continue their oppression unabated.