75% held an unfavorable view of MLK, Jr.
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I once said, and still firmly believe, that some people take MLK, Jr. off the shelf every April 4th, wipe away the dust that shows how little use they get from his words during the rest of the year, and then sing a few praises, far removed from who he really was and what he actually said - safely removed by the passage of time and the grave - that has now allowed them to embrace an acceptable selection of the dead man's words. And always - always - "I Have a Dream".
Not his "Letter from Birmingham Jail", about the enabling of a racist system by the expedient words and actions of moderates, or his "Poor People's Campaign, or his Anti-Vietnam stance.
60% of white people did not approve of the March on Washington.
They didn't like what he was saying, and hadn't like what he was saying, for years.
Polls
1964: “A majority of white New Yorkers questioned here in the last month in a survey by the New York Times said they believed the Negro civil rights movement bad gone too far. While denying any deep-seated prejudice against Negroes, a large number of those questioned used the same terms to express their feelings. They spoke of Negroes’ receiving ‘everything on a silver platter’ and of ‘reverse discrimination’ against whites. More than one‐fourth of those who were interviewed said they had become more opposed to Negro aims during the last few months.” — New York Times
Public Opinion on Civil Rights: Reflections on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 blog
And nothing, absolutely nothing, about what he was saying could have been said in such a way that would have caused those white people not to be offended.
He couldn't have changed a single word or a single phrase that would have made a difference - they would have still been offended.
Because it's not the words that offended them - it was the ideas of equality, fairness, liberty, justice, and equity that offended them.
It was what white people thought they would be losing because of those ideas that outraged them.
I'm simply not going to hold the hand of someone who wants to oppress me, while picking and choosing my words so as not to offend, to get them to agree that I am a human. That I should have the same rights they do. To make them feel better about it all.
Fact is, they are going to attack me and try to oppress me no matter what I say or do.
Because their sense of well being, no matter how false it may be, depends on my oppression.
If a person isn't willing to understand the history of racism (and bigotry in general) in America, to understand how racism still permeates all aspects of life in America, then no amount of sugar-coating is going to help them understand.
They don't want to understand. Because understanding means they will have to change and that takes us back to them fearing the loss of how they see themselves in relation to the world. The loss of what they see as their place in the world compared to others.
They're afraid. I get that. But no matter what I say, or how I say it, they will remain afraid - because to embrace a new way of thinking means they do have to see others as being equal. And if we're the same, then they're not special - and if they aren't special, then that's a blow to their sense of identity. That's how they see it. That other people being equal means a loss for them.
And it also means they have been wrong all this time - and people hate being wrong.
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