THE REAL STORY:
He didn’t die on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel, in Memphis. He survived the ambulance ride to the hospital. He was murdered in the hospital by the attending Physician and two accomplices. A Black nurse on duty, was told to leave his room when the white physician and 2 other white men entered. She left but did not close the door completely. She left it open slightly. She witnessed the men spit on him, curse him, then place a pillow over his face and smothered him to death! Don’t believe me? Look it up. Dr King and his follower’s methods in achieving land mark civil rights legislation was achieved via tremendous subjugation, sacrifices, pain, suffering, and even death. While I respect him, I could have never been a proponent for being spit on, brutalized, and get my ass kicked, simply to pull on the conscious of a nation’s sense of pity & guilt. That’s too much to ask for, at far too great a price. The adage of being ‘ML’King for a day’ speaks to a day of service to work in communities of need. I’ve committed to doing that, but don’t ask me to passively confront racist ignorance and let it dehumanize my existence. That’s a big NO!