17 Jan One Generation Before and After Martin Luther King
17.01.11
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I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed–
I, too, am America.
~Langston Hughes (1925)
Langston Hughes wrote this just one generation before Martin Luther King. One generation later, we have an African American president. Laugh, eat well, and grow strong indeed.
It’s important to recognize progress on this front, but if that leads to complacency or to denial of persisting problems or a failure to appreciate the rich political and economic critique of King’s later writings and speeches (after all, he was assassinated while in Memphis to support black sanitation workers), then we dishonor King’s ideals and values, his principles and commitments. See, for example, Bill Quigley’s post at ReligiousLeftlaw.com for a taste of topics that raise questions of injustice in a manner that would have engaged King were he alive today and that should engage us if we’re truly concerned to honor his life and legacy.