(Some have questioned the authenticity of the above quotation, but Rick Crawford at UC Davis dug through historical source material and emerged convinced it’s authentic). … corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.” “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. But, as our government increasingly seems to do the bidding of plutocrats and the corporations that make them wealthy, we might also want to remember what Lincoln said about corporate power: We cheerfully remember the president who held the union together and, by so doing, brought an end to slavery. Yes, our historical amnesia even affects white guys. In an era when eight rich individuals now have as much wealth as half of humanity, we would do well to remind ourselves of King’s words: “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”īut we’ve selectively forgotten a lot more than just King’s messages on war and the economy. Annual MLK commemorations contain lots of “I have a dream” but shockingly little about King’s fierce and controversial advocacy for economic justice or his opposition to not just the Vietnam War, but the whole U.S. Many have addressed what some call the “Santa Clausification” of Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we just celebrated. Lots of factors contribute, but we might want to pay more attention to our national tendency to take our heroes and de-fang and de-claw them – turning them into warm and fuzzy but largely empty shells, cutting the heart out of what they tried to teach us. In an era when open expressions of bigotry, hate and contempt for the less fortunate are on the rise, I find myself wondering how we got here. Diverse Small Business: Creating an Inclusive Clean Energy Economy.
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