To those who consistently quote Dr. King "content of their character" line

[EffieBlack]

especially when trying to justify opposition to the positive consideration of race or gender in this presidential election or affirmative action in general . . .

Please note that not only are you taking Dr. King's quote completely out of context, you are misrepresenting his views.

Perhaps you do not realize that Dr. King said this in the context of laying out his dream of what America would eventually look like.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
. . .
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

Yes, he said that he dreamed that "one day" his children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. But he was not so foolish to believe that this meant that their skin color could not be taken into account in order to fashion the remedies needed to GET to the point where skin color no longer mattered.

Dr. King, in fact, SUPPORTED affirmative action - a fact that those who so carelessly throw around the "content of their character" snippet completely disregard.

He frequently pointed out that the world of which he dreamed was not yet a reality and that measures needed to be taken - measures that took race into account - to get us there.

For example, in his 1964 book "Why We Can't Wait," he wrote:

"It is impossible to create a formula for the future which does not take into account that our society has been doing something special against the Negro for hundreds of years. How then can he be absorbed into the mainstream of American life if we did not do something special for him now, in order to balance the equation and equip him to compete on an equal basis? . . . {I}t is obvious that if a man is entering the starting line of a race three hundred yeas after another man, the first would have to perform some impossible feat in order to catch up with his fellow runner."

As scholar C. Raymond Barrow says, "To the extent that the intent of affirmative action is and always has been to reduce segregation by increasing the representation of minorities in institutions in which they have historically been excluded or underrepresented, then it is clear from King’s words that he would have approved of affirmative action in principle."

Those closest to Dr. King - Andrew Young, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Ralph Abernathy and others, including his widow, Coretta - have consistently and unequivocally validated Dr. King's views on this.

Yet, despite this, many people who did or would have done all in their power to oppose Dr. King and many others who just maybe don't know any better, regularly twist Dr. King's words into an knife that undercuts everything he stood for.

I expect this from some folks, but it is a real shame that well-meaning people, including those on DU, continue to engage in this bastardization of Dr. King's principles.

Please stop it.

[madeline_con]

1. Who's taking the comment out of context? n/t

[AspenRose]

3. I saw what she is referring to in another thread.

eom

[EffieBlack]

4. Several people right here on DU

They love to throw around the "content of their character line" when they accuse folks who think having a black or a woman president would be a good thing of being racist and sexist.

A couple recent examples:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=4351586
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=4302717

[Dogmudgeon]

2. You're lecturing the wrong crowd

Equality of status under the law is a core Democratic value. Even those who disagree on policy agree on the direction we have to take.

I have met Democrats who disagree with affirmative action, but only in implementation. I have never met one who thinks there is no work left to be done. Dispossession just isn't on the agenda.

--p!

[EffieBlack]

5. I wish I were

But there are plenty of people right in this crowd who need to be told this.

[Withywindle]

6. Not necessarily

Here on DU I've seen MAJOR objections to taking race and gender into account when thinking about where to place one's primary vote.

I think in this historic race, it's kind of inevitable, and disingenuous to pretend that people don't, and not productive to try to shut down the dialogue.

I think there are voters who see Obama and Clinton's positions on the issues as not all that different, and are taking into account the fact that it DOES have real meaning for one's children to see a Black man or a woman in the ultimate position of US authority, giving the State of the Union speech and all that.

Neither has ever happened before. BOTH are vitally important to our country's healing, IMO.

It's hard to separate from questions about the individuals concerned--their positions, their qualifications, etecetera. But no one can pretend the momentous history doesn't matter, because of course it does.

It's also, for 200+ years, been dishonest to tell our children (all our children, black and brown and/or female) that if you work hard, you can do anything (as loving parents in a democratic society feel they ought), because the very concrete evidence that that JUST ISN'T TRUE has been in our faces for so long.

[EffieBlack]

7. Thank you!

:hi:

[xchrom]

8. thank you -- context and content make for powerful equations. thank you.

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