Monday, January 21, 2008

I cannot stand that “I Have A Dream” speech.

Every year around this time, Americans come together to celebrate the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And every year around this time, I am overwhelmed people citing that one speech he made in 1963.

You know the speech

What I want to know is why do people want to define Dr. King by that one speech? And why do they always do this while forgetting the fact that if it weren’t for the sacrifices of a dedicated OPENLY GAY BLACK MALE (now there is a phrase you hardly ever see), the speech probably wouldn’t have even taken place.

And I have had enough. In fact, I hate that speech.

Here in South Carolina, we have a march to the state capital every year where we hear speeches from various public officials.

I didn't go this year. I really didn’t want to go mainly because if I hear the call and response of “Fired up! Ready to go” one more time, I am liable to make a detour from the march to nearest mental hospital. Or some other place where I can render myself deaf.

This holiday gets on my nerves. More to the point, I cannot stand how we have simplified King and the effect he had on American society.

I cannot stand the fact that one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century has been whittled down to a single simplistic speech that does not even begin to scratch the surface of the complexities behind the man.

King was more than a reverend. He was more than a speaker. The man was a visionary who was just coming into his own just before he was assassinated.

So in what should be the true spirit of this holiday, let me do something different.

For you see, I too have dreams. And while they may not be rooted in the American Dream, they are rooted in the single universal dream that people will one day stop wasting time bullshitting and get down to the downs that’s keeping us all down.

I have a dream

that when I open a gay-themed magazine, I will not be told how much I should fight for lgbt rights while at the same time be made to feel less than substantial just because I can’t afford some ridiculous doodad like a $300 crocodile leather case for my “ipod."

I have a dream

that the Advocate magazine can get through one year without putting the following on the cover - Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres, Lance Bass, Tammy Lynn Sigler, or some “hot”white guy who happens to be straight.

I have a dream

that BET will no longer show the following movies: Soul Plane, Next Friday, Menace II Society, Baby Boy, Leprechaun N Da Hood II

I have a dream

that the media stops paying attention to Britney Spears and her mother takes the guise of a stereotypical black mother and slap some sense into the child.

I have a dream

that our gay children stop emulating and worshipping the next ingenue coming down the pike.

I have a dream

that we get to November 2008 as quickly as possible and elect someone who can begin to start undoing the damage.

I have a dream

that people start recognizing just how overrated and preachy South Park is and pay attention to the Boondocks, a much better program.

I have a dream

that people stop carrying whether or not Clay Aiken is gay

I have a dream

that it will be discovered that more conservative Republicans have out-of-wedlock black daughters.

Finally, I have a dream

that people will pick up a book about Dr. King and read about just how complex the civil rights movement was. Stop simplifying Dr. King. In fact, stop simplifying period. Use your damned brains for once.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you thank you thank you.

The simplification of complex issues is pervasive in today's world. It is as if it does not fit in 5 minutes or less, it won't be covered. Trivial issues are more covered than things that affect our daily lives or will affect our future.

The meanness that pervades society and amuses the masses is stultifying. I have tried to reason with my brother and his wife, to show their obsessions with pop culture are not the best examples for their children and have found that if I go to play with the children, I can have a more serious and complex conversation with these 7 and 9 years olds than I can have with the adults in the family.
They are interested in talking about bullies, racism or even the purpose of trees.

Peterson Toscano said...

thank you so much. I woke up with Bayard Rustin on my mind and foolish and dangerous simplification that has taken place in the media over Dr. King as the one large Civil Rights leader looming overall. It got me blogging and considering the overwhelming need my society has for erecting shrines to a single hero and then acting like the work is done.

Yeah, and what you said about the Advocate. Lance Bass? Please! Surely there is some real news out there.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful post, but may I confess I know nothing about this part?

"if it weren't for the sacrifices of a dedicated OPENLY GAY BLACK MALE (now there is a phrase you hardly ever see), the speech probably wouldn't have even taken place."

If someone has a name or a Wikipedia page to suggest, I would genuinely like to know.

Best regards from a major Barbara Jordan fan.

Anonymous said...

Oh, sorry, now I get it (having read the comments), it's Rustin. Please pardon my taking up your time!

Anonymous said...

You should see the dream speeches you've inspired in the comments under your cross posting at pamshouseblend.

Lurleen over there recommends reading
MLK's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Nice of her to specify a baby step towards your dream "that people will pick up a book about Dr. King and read about just how complex the civil rights movement was."

Nice post.

BlackTsunami said...

hey anonymous ;p

look up the name Bayard Rustin. He was an aide to Dr. King and THE PRINCIPAL ORGANIZER for the 1963 March on Washington.

He was a champion for Human Rights all over the world and the most refreshing thing about him was that he was an openly gay black man; something that we need more of in this country.

BlackTsunami said...

it's all good, anonymous. just another chance to give props to a great man.

Anonymous said...

Amen to that. It's disheartening the way such profound things, events and people get whittled down to mere soundbites. It is, I guess, a sign of our times. We are unable to digest more than minute snippets of anything thanks to MTV, cartoons and reality television. Therefore even the most important and expansive things must be reduced to mere shadows of what they were.

Let us not demean greatness by turning it into a fragment.

Buffy