to be clear the first one is the original. i just riffed on it because it’s a powerful message.
White Americans™ love the image of MLK Jr. (“the guy talks about dreams and stuff”) because that image has been co-opted and used to make them feel absolved of their guilt– co-opted and used to denounce advocates of social justice, ironically, as being racist for simply talking about racism. The image of MLK Jr. talked about “content of character”, and they think that’s what they judge people by. They think they’ve got that down, so they don’t have to do anything else. They can remain comfortable and complacent.
But White Americans™ hate the reality of MLK Jr. because he denounces their comfort and complacency as being the product and the perpetuation of systemic racism. They hate the reality because he demands change.
