BlackLives Matter Rally 2014
The New
Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
There will
be at least two different celebrations on Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Day in
Worcester Massachusetts.
There will
be the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast in
Worcester is at Quinsigamond
Community College at 8 AM. The
tickets for this event cost $25.00 and they have
to be purchased in
advance.
There will also be the March Against Racism on MLK Day in
Worcester
assembles in front of St. John RC Church on Temple
St. Worcester. The march
starts at 12 Noon. It will go down
Green St. to Kelly Square, rally there, and
then return to St.
John Church. In many ways this march is in response to the
racism and retaliation of the City of Worcester against the new
civil rights
movement of BlackLives Matter.
Many people
do not remember or do not associate the urban
rebellions of the 1960s with the
old civil rights movement. The
rebellions were not what were wanted by some
respectable people,
as we Black people were not seen as victims of racism. We
were
seen as the fighters against racism.
When Dr.
King attempted to organize northern Black people in the
cities he was rudely
made aware of the militancy that created the
Black Panther Party, Malcolm X,
and the Worcester Black
Coalition.
I suppose
Dr. King expected the White racism he faced in Cicero
Illinois. He could not
have expected that young Black people in
Watts would call him Martin “Loser”
King. The old civil rights
movement in the South was to some extent prettified
with men in
suits and religious people (all good and brave people). The men in
dungarees and who spoke Geechee were only seen in the back. Dr.
King eventually
understood the contradictions of such tactics and
began to support working
class struggles, such as the garbage men
strike in Tennessee during which he
was assassinated.
With his
death Dr. King has become a safe symbol for anyone.
Streets are named after
him. Schools are named after him. There
was even a Martin Luther King Jr.
innovation center. Now we have
a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday with its ubiquitous breakfasts. In
Worcester there will be the 31st annual breakfast.
Please do
not get the wrong idea. I think that the people doing
these things are good
people and well intentioned. I know most of
them and I consider them my
friends. I am sure some of them
would like to disassociate themselves from the
new militancy of
the BlackLives Matter. This has certainly been the case with
some
“liberal” people.
BlackLives
Matter new civil rights movement has given a new face
to Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. Day in Worcester. The blockade of
Kelly Square in 2015 by people protesting
the killing of Michael
Brown added a sharpness and militancy to Dr. King’s Day
that has
continued through the year in Worcester and many places in the
Nation.
This
militancy continues on January 18, 2016 when a coalition of
groups and
individuals will March Against Racism. The groups
have raised several issues
all dealing with anti racism including,
opposition to the school to jail
pipeline, an end to racist killings by
the police, higher minimum wages, and
end to the retaliation by
Worcester City government against BlackLives Matter.
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