Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Triplets” on Full Display
My Response to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Holiday and the Capitol Attacks
- Emily Thien
My head has been swirling over the past few days after watching the attacks in D.C. I have felt moments of sadness and grief, astonishment and apathy.
Moving into this three day weekend, I’ve tried to take some moments to reflect on the work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As I meditated on some of his writings, I came across a speech he gave in May of ‘67 regarding the Vietnam War. Those that know King’s work know that he was a loud critic of American involvement in Vietnam. It is not because he was a pacifist, or (as many of his contemporaries claimed) because he was a communist. No, Dr. King was able to see the intrinsic ties that racism, militarism, and materialism had with one another.
In Dr. King’s speech titled “America’s Chief Moral Dilemma”, it says: “Somehow these three evils are tied together. The triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism.”
As I read these words and heard them come from Dr. King’s mouth, I realized that what I watched at the Capitol, just days ago, was a picture of those triplet evils on full display.
Flags and banners had been packed up and carried across the U.S. in the days leading up to the riot at the capitol. These flags were selected because of their strong symbols and clear messaging. When I reflect on the imagery of those banners carried through the National Mall, they showed the inherent tying together of King’s three evils.
The confederate flags and images of gallows had somehow become compatible in these people’s minds with American flags and old marine imagery. These men and women wore their military tactical gear and proudly stood next to a man in the group wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt. They brought with them flags emblazoned with the face and name of a multi-millionaire business mogul, with their “America First” battle cries reverberating across the nation and world.
Americans, even before decrying “America First,” are guilty of not only exploiting other nations, but are guilty of historically exploiting its very own citizens through slavery, Jim Crow laws, and Japanese internment camps; it is still a country that has traded justice and equity for injustice and financial gain. We are a nation who weeps when businesses and stores are burned to the ground, but need to hear “all the details” before mourning another dead black body. This same group that cried “Blue Lives Matter” when it was blue lives against black lives, beat police officers to death with the very flags they carried.
Yes, the triplets of evil were on full display that day.
People call Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a prophet, but they forget that a prophet is not one who tells the future. Dr. King didn’t predict what we saw - he told things as they were (and still are). Because a prophet proclaims to the people the truth that they refuse to see.
We should not have been surprised, or shocked, or caught off guard with what we saw just a couple of weeks ago in our Nation, but many of us were. Had we listened to Dr. King, or the 1000’s of others bearing witness to us, we should and would have seen this coming. We should have heeded the words of Dr. King, a man who would be 92 this year, and rooted this out long ago.
Church, we cannot root out racism without also rooting out the triplet evils together. As Dr. King told us, they are “somehow” tied together.
May we seek to listen to the words of prophets and truth tellers around us. Listen to black and brown brothers and sisters who carry the burden of proclaiming to us what our white eyes and minds refuse to see.
May we root this out.
I encourage you to listen to Dr. King’s full speech, “America’s chief moral dilemma” here: https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_28-fn10p0x51h
Or read an excerpt here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/martin-luther-king-hungry-club-forum/552533/
- Emily Thien
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