A revealing collection that restores Dr. King as being every bit as radical as Malcolm X "The radical King was a democratic socialist who sided with poor and working people in the class struggle taking place in capitalist societies. . . . The response of the radical King to our catastrophic moment can be put in one word: revolution--a revolution in our priorities, a reevaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life, and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer ...
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A revealing collection that restores Dr. King as being every bit as radical as Malcolm X "The radical King was a democratic socialist who sided with poor and working people in the class struggle taking place in capitalist societies. . . . The response of the radical King to our catastrophic moment can be put in one word: revolution--a revolution in our priorities, a reevaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life, and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens. . . . Could it be that we know so little of the radical King because such courage defies our market-driven world?" --Cornel West, from the Introduction Every year, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is celebrated as one of the greatest orators in US history, an ambassador for nonviolence who became perhaps the most recognizable leader of the civil rights movement. But after more than forty years, few people appreciate how truly radical he was. Arranged thematically in four parts, The Radical King includes twenty-three selections, curated and introduced by Dr. Cornel West, that illustrate King's revolutionary vision, underscoring his identification with the poor, his unapologetic opposition to the Vietnam War, and his crusade against global imperialism. As West writes, "Although much of America did not know the radical King--and too few know today--the FBI and US government did. They called him 'the most dangerous man in America.' . . . This book unearths a radical King that we can no longer sanitize."
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April 4, 2018, marked the 50th year commemoration of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was an appropriate occasion to think about King and his importance. Among other ways, King's life was remembered through a revitalization of the Poor People's March in which he had been engaged before his death and by several books, including a book of essays on King's political philosophy "To Shape a New World" edited by Harvard professors Tommie Shelby and Brandon Terry and "Redemption: Martin Luther King Jr's Last 31 Hours" by Joseph Rosenbloom.
Edited and introduced by scholar Cornel West, this book, "The Radical King" (2016) will help readers broaden their perspective on Martin Luther King. With the establishment of the Federal holiday in celebration of King and the monuments and other tributes to his memory, the scope of King's vision and program has become curtailed and sanitized. King is celebrated for his "I Have A Dream Speech" on the National Mall and for his teachings of love, peace, and brotherhood. The portion of King's vision which came to the fore after the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 tends to be underplayed. Beginning in 1967, King spoke strongly against the Vietnam War. He took his method of nonviolent protest north and broadened it to include poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and materialism which worked against America's and the world's poor of all races. At the time of his assassination, King was participating in a strike of sanitation workers in Memphis. His politics became increasingly critical of capitalism and tended towards democratic socialism.
King's radicalism was well-known during the latter years of his life, as many of his former allies deserted him over his stance on the Vietnam War and over the increasing breadth of his critique of the United States. More people disapproved than approved of King in the years leading to his assassination. Still, with his untimely death and with the passage of time, many people have forgotten this part of King's message. It is valuable to be reminded of it through the writings of King collected in this book.
The book includes West's commentary together with texts from King divided into four parts: "Radical Love", "Prophetic Vision: Global Analysis and Local Praxis", "The Revolution of Nonviolent Resistance: Against Empire and White Supremacy" and "Overcoming the Tyranny of Poverty and Hatred". The texts were written at all stages of King's brief public career, with some as early as 1958. The selections include famous works such as the "Letter from Birmingham Jail". Other selections include the speech King gave in Memphis the evening before his death, titled "I've been to the Mountaintop" and the speech King gave announcing his opposition to the Vietnam War called "Beyond Vietnam, A Time to Break Silence". Some of the contents of the book is less well-known, including moving tributes King gave to W.E.B. Du Bois and to the American socialist leader, Norman Thomas. One of the strongest and most militant essays in the book is "Where Do We Go From Here?", King's final speech as given as president to the Southern Leadership Conference.
The contents of this book do indeed show that King had a radical vision that has become somewhat obscured in the years since his death. It is important and valuable to know King in all his fullness. King's radicalism had lost support during the tumultuous years of the late 1960s, to which King responded and which he helped to create, and today's readers will want to think about the radicalization of King's vision and its relationship to the more romanticized, iconic picture of King.
Professor West is an eloquent advocate for the radical side of King. In his passionate prose, he elides issues and expands King's radicalism to causes King never embraced and probably rejected during his life. Thus, West writes:
"The modes of racist domination -- from barbaric slavery to bestial Jim Crow, Sr., to cruel Jim Crow, Jr., -- are never reducible to individual prejudice or personal bias. Empire, white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, and homophobia are linked in complex ways, and our struggles against them require moral consistency and systemic analyses."
Martin Luther King, Jr. has properly become an iconic figure. His memory deserves to be revered and his work, including his radical writings, deserve to be read. With the passage of time, readers should explore King and think through what is valuable and essential in his achievement and mission. Reading and remembering King and pondering his significance are the most lasting tributes to be paid to King or to any critically important figure.
