Marking the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones curated The New York Times’ 1619 Project in an effort to centralize Black contributions in the United States’ historical narrative. Hannah-Jones’s initiative deliberates the idea that historical civil rights icons have been labeled as peaceful and complacent in an effort to deradicalize present-day activists.
After receiving an invitation to speak at The Union League Club of Chicago’s commemoration ceremony of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Hannah-Jones was faced with an immediate challenge: Emails from elite club members had leaked her “radical” speech script, deeming her unworthy of the invitation. The emails condemned Hannah-Jones’s discussion of the current whitewashed version of United States history.
Instead of facing defeat, Hannah-Jones used this information to her advantage. “So, I scrapped [sic] my original speech and spent the entire first half of it reading excerpts from a bunch of Dr. King’s speeches, but without telling anyone that I was doing so, leading the audience to think King’s words were mine. And, whew, chile, it was AMAZING,” she tweeted.
Frustrated by the “MLK was not a radical” act, Hannah-Jones was successful in expressing the dire need for systemic change in the United States. Through a thread on Twitter, the 1619 author shared her disdain towards the commodified legacy of MLK today. She posted, “People who oppose today what he stood for back then do not get to be the arbiters of his legacy.”
The question remains: Why is MLK employed as the white man’s go-to civil rights activist?
The altered version of MLK’s story has been administered throughout the nation so much so that students to this day have recent memories of learning about MLK’s non-reactionary views. Junior Prince Davis commented on PV’s curriculum. “While MLK was great for the civil rights movement, Malcolm X wasn’t bad either. Yet, we are taught more about MLK in school because he did not promote violence and is depicted as a more peaceful activist.”
It is evident that MLK’s activism did start off as nonviolent; however, MLK believed in radical pacifism. According to Stanford’s MLK Research and Education Foundation, MLK’s thoughts were profoundly influenced by Edward Bellamy’s utopian novel, “Looking Backward.” Through Bellamy’s rhetoric, MLK was inspired to study the undying effects of capitalism on systemic oppression. Although relatively peaceful, MLK’s radicalism has been molded towards complacency to fit the white narrative of a civil rights activist.
Americans have seemingly used a similar escape to avoid racial controversy for centuries now. Amended and passed by the House on March 16, 2021, Iowa House File 802 (HF 802) states conclusively that assertions of racism in United States’ systems be prohibited in Iowa classrooms. For many educators, being tasked with the job of teaching during a national polarization of politics already presents as a struggle, let alone legal limitations on what can be discussed in a classroom.
While some are faced with controversial questions and genuine curiosity from students, teachers must reconsider their curricula that encompasses real-world issues. Physical education teacher and track coach Jane Wheeler commented on her educational beliefs.
“There are so many things that I began to educate myself on that I’m like wow, how did I not learn that growing up? Or, for example, like Nikole Hannah-Jones, she talks about how as a Black child growing up in America, she was a part of a program that was trying to integrate schools, so she was actually busted out of her neighborhood to go to more white schools that had more resources,” she said.
“All of these things she noticed growing up, then when she started her job as an investigative journalist, she was like ‘oh my gosh, now that I know the history and the policy, I understand why the world is the way it is,’” she added. Wheeler emphasized that educating students on racial and social issues from around the world will not only prepare the youth for the future, but it will also teach them about the real world.
Critical Race Theory (CRT), a prominent subject in relation to HF 802, considers the convergence of race and law, challenging orthodox approaches to racism. “By critically examining proposed bills across various states that directly label CRT or inaccurately allude to it, one can conclude that the current ban is not about CRT itself, but rather about legislating the ban on teaching concepts, such as systemic racism, conscious or unconscious bias and privilege,” wrote three Middle School Journal editors.
Condensing the entire civil rights movement – past and present – into a singular activist’s career discredits the inequalities Black people faced and still face in the United States. While MLK’s advocacy serves as an inspiration to all, it should not demoralize alternative efforts of other undervalued Black activists. As the month of February marks the beginning of Black History Month, even more Black activists should be acclaimed in schools around the nation.
By condemning the discussion of critical subjects such as race, gender and sexual orientation, legislators are reinforcing outdated tactics of denying racism in the United States. Both Black activism and legal limitations on already difficult conversations beg the question: Must the United States rethink and re-establish its historical contributions that have laid the nation’s very foundation? If students are not provided with the truth behind United States history, perhaps the nation will continue to exist in a state of fragility.
