In August 1963, prominent activist and preacher Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a rousing speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington. He gave this speech in the context of the second time a major civil rights rally in Washington, D.C., has been held since the 1940's. It's the celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech that is known by heart by millions, if not billions, of people.
Recently, there was a video of an encounter between a young man in a MAGA hat and a Native American elder. So far the videos relating to the incident have painted two distinct pictures. One shows the young man smirking at the Native elder and the other shows the elder walking up to the teenager. Since this incident went viral, there have been calls to assault, arrest, and even murder the teenager and his friends. Unfortunately, the polarization of the situation means that the elder is also receiving threats and as a historian who understands the long and brutal history of atrocities committed towards indigenous tribes, I was understandably appalled by those threats as well.
My understanding of the situation is that it reflects two things. One is that the political climate in the United States as well as other Western nations have gotten so bad over the course of the past twenty years that we are looking less like the United States we claim to be and more like the very countries we condemn. This isn't to suggest that we are the equivalent of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Red China, the European empires of yesteryear, or authoritarian Third World nations, but we are inching closer towards becoming a society where division leads to irreparable damage and that is startling.
The second result of this incident was the debate surrounding the hierarchy of oppression. Now I've been critical of identity politics a lot and I feel as though unity is a lost cause given the emphasis on the idea that the personal is political. Of course, I must acknowledge that some aspects of my identity are not under attack and others are subject to discrimination. That's unfortunately how things go, but I realized that the context in which identity politics emerge often come from a place of uncertainty, insecurity, and bigotry. To condemn identity politics is not to condemn the promise of equality for all and the message of tolerance. In fact, the condemnation of identity politics often come from a place where tolerance and equality are either present or acknowledgment of what we see as liberal principles.
Unity is typically a rallying cry of the revolutionaries. It was the same "Join or Die" suggestion that Benjamin Franklin made originally in 1754 for defense against the French and later for unity among the colonists against the British government. In the French Revolution, the masses were largely united in their disdain for the excesses of an opulent monarchy and this largely united provincial workers with their Parisian counterparts. In a number of slave revolts, the slaves typically relegated to the fields were joined by the house servants in their desire to gain freedom from bondage. Meanwhile, the white workers and black workers have often joined each other in their fight for labor rights, equality, and resistance against injustice.
In fact, the very notion of dividing the population is known as divide-and-conquer and this is what groups in actual positions of power use to conquer what they perceive to be threats.
The ruling class used this to keep the poor white workers from realizing that their lot in life was marginally different than that of the poor black workers. Of course, this sentiment can be seen by the popular labor song, "There is Power in a Union", where the workers of all races realize that they are all being used by the same machine.
This kind of unity has even taken on an interesting turn when the class warfare rhetoric is dropped in favor of a cultural or national identity (e.g. being American), which begs the question of identity politics can also be a source of unity. Of course, that applies more towards a cultural identity, such as being an American, than a personal identity of being black, white, male, female, etc.
At any rate, it is important to fight for the rights of everyone and to have honest discussions about these things. It is my hope that we can agree that racism, sexism, and other forms of bigotry are wrong and must be condemned. So I have a dream that all people, regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), disability (of lack thereof), etc., can enjoy the benefits of liberty, equality, and opportunity.
So this MLK Day, I implore everyone reading this to realize that we are all the same in terms of being human (e.g. we all have feelings, etc.) and to treat each other as such. Thank you and have a wonderful day.
NOTE: We must not forget that Martin Luther King, Jr., was also human and was prone to making mistakes. This day is more dedicated to the ideals he stood for than the idolized image people have of him. Please remember that he is misunderstood by many and that what he stood for was justice across the board from the devastation of the Vietnam War to the severe poverty affecting millions of people.
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