In this thread dalej42 made several assertions about MLK Jr., somewhat tastelessly timed for the day set aside to honor King.
One of the assertions was that:
I asked you for a reputable cite for this assertion. None has been forthcoming. A cursory google-fu will turn about vague mentions of “FBI reports” or even a quote from David Duke (of Grand Wizard fame). But I am waiting for you to bring the goods.
I will admit that King was far from perfect. I will admit he liked the ladies, and his disloyalty to his wife is troubling.
But I believe people who want to discredit him have “married” his infidelities (no pun intended) to his death to forever corrupt his death and legacy. You are perpetuating this myth. Did you also forward the e-mail about “Barack Hussein Obama” being a muslim?
No one gets a free pass here. Everyone from Jesus to Hillary to MLK Jr to Barry Bonds is open to scrutiny. HONEST scrutiny.
There are plenty pf valid arguments for and against King having a federeal holiday. Instead of presenting one, why did you choose to level scurilous accusations against his character?
The number of easy women one has fucked ought to be directly proportional to the likelihood of getting a national holiday established in one’s memory. Like someone in that other thread, Bill Clinton cast a wide, green, sticky, Cyrax’s-special-move-like net with his penis, and some are compelled to pass judgment on him for that. I think in times like this, we should remember the great king David from the Bible. He was a true hero, and yet what did he do in his spare time? Why, womanize, of course. Charlemagne? Four different wives and five concubines! This is GOOD, folks, not bad. It means the genes of great men will be passed on to more people. Ultimately it’s good for the human race. Bonus points if the women are of different races - diversity, you know.
Whether King was actually with prostitutes before he was shot is not irrelevant at all. Because if it were true, it would make him even more awesome.
Another assertion in that thread is that King plagiarized part of his doctoral dissertation. This Snopes article supports that idea and vaguely confirms that King had extramarital affairs, though not quite as many or as wild as the OP in the other thread claimed.
I read Abernathy’s book and I rememer it saying he had a weakness for the ladies, but I don’t remember it saying he was with a prostitute the night before he died. Even is Cecil’s quote it says the claim if froim an FBI with reason to discredit him.
The Cecil quote about him being him with ladies the night before he died, and hitting one, came from RA, not an FBI agent- what came from the FBI is the notion that he spent donations on hookers.
Just out of curiosity, you’re ok with him cheating onhis wife and hitting a woman the night before he died, as long as they weren’t prostitutes?
I don’t have Abernathy’s book here with me, but i do have Marshall Frady’s 2002 biography, Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Life. Frady’s account of King’s last night relies almost exclusively on Abernathy’s work. Here’s how it looks in Frady’s book, on page 203:
As far as i know, no-one has ever shown these women to have been prostitutes. In fact, i don’t think i’ve ever heard that possibility even raised.
As for whether them being prostitutes would have made King’s infidelity worse, i leave that up to you.
For most of recorded history our societies have been run by misogynists, racists, homophobes, and bigots of every conceivable stripe. It would be nice to assume that someone who fights one kind of oppression would be sympathetic towards others. But not only have I have seen no indications that this is so, there are an uncountable number of examples to the contrary.
In fact, I submit that it would be extremely difficult or impossible to examine the life of any significant person living in the 20th century (or earlier) and fail to find examples of sexism, racism or homophobia. Darwin said appalling things about “savages” with different colour skin; Gandhi wasn’t particularly nice to women; some early Presidents of the US raped slaves; lots of feminists are anti-trans; lots of gays don’t like bisexuals; today, right now, we can see the prevalent tension between mainstream anti-racist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobia groups. It’s everywhere. Oppression is incredibly complicated and omnipresent.
Given this (that almost every historical figure has displayed some discriminatory behaviour in the past), I suspect the motives of anyone who singles out an individual historical character, especially one who happens to be a black guy talking about racism.
What difference does it make? King was a man, not a saint. He had great flaws, but these do not in any way detract from his achievement. If anything they enhance it. He was a man who rose above his imperfect nature and put his life on the line to make this country a better place.
Or a third possibility: perhaps it’s the dream that matters, not the person who dreamt it. I mean, I know we Americans are big on our heroes, but I think it’s easy to be missing the point…
Honestly, who gives a shit? It seems apparent to me that Great Men are not Nice Guys, and often they’re not even Good Men. I’ll take me a Good Man when I’m looking for a husband, and a Great Man when I’m looking to change the world. Y’all can keep your Nice Guys.