Reclaiming King: The Innovative, Insightful Revolutionary
For many Black people, it is seemingly a rite-of-passage to resist, refute, and shrug off the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
One may assume that this disposition is born out of contempt for our leaders or lack of awareness of the struggle Black people have faced in America and around the world. However, the reality is found in the inverse of the notion.
Progressively, more young people gain an acute understanding and awareness of the world around them. They hear the constant pleas from Black people for the prevailing powers to pause, reconsider, and reflect on the humanity and plight of Black people, and remember the promise that America sells to all her citizens and inhabitants. You see, decade after decade, since the inception of this country we have cried aloud though it has fallen on deaf ears, yet we continue to give our best to a land that seems unwavering in its commitment to sustain the status quo.
Enter the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
To many young people, the faith and hope that America will change on her own seem to fade as we become increasingly jaded by the reality we see, live, and learn about from others within America and throughout the Diaspora. Despite our shared pain and the frustration, Dr. King’s message of peace and nonviolence is presented as the best and only choice for Black Americans to achieve equality at any level.
To many, Dr. King’s message is out of touch and proven ineffective. But that is because the Dr. King presented to us is not a complete picture of Dr. King, the man, the philosopher, and the revolutionary.
As a Black man growing up in the Jim Crow South, Martin King was well acquainted with the systems that oppressed him and his people. Educated at one of the world’s foremost institutions for the development of Black men, Morehouse College, he was no doubt inundated with various philosophies, approaches, and potential solutions to the plight that plagued us. Nevertheless, he relied on his faith and that near-magical ability to dream to develop an approach that would shake up the nation and move his people closer to the Promised Land.
We are sold on Dr. King’s vision of nonviolent resistance. However, it only represents part of the dream and a shortsighted view of his vision. Indeed, Dr. King was absolutely a student of Jesus and Gandhi’s approach to resistance through love and nonviolence, and the philosophical approach of Howard Washington Thurman. But he was also a husband, a father, and a minister who understood that love alone did not put food on the table. That nonviolence would not keep the lights on in the home. The truth is, the other part of Dr. King’s dream involved the financial uplift of Black communities.
Dr. King was a man of the people, rooted in his community. He was an erudite, renaissance man — well dressed, well read, well spoken, well traveled. But he was also a man from the streets of Atlanta. With or without a college education, Dr. King would embody what Atlantans are known for — innovation and finessing the system. And he did just that through his protests and demonstrations. He strategically timed his marches to coincide with the evening news so the world could see what was happening in the segregated South. That is the equivalent of the thinking behind using OPM (other people’s money) and the timing of social media posts today, both tools leveraged by entrepreneurs and small business owners. And though an advocate for peaceful resistance, he was never against using force.
You may ask, “What force did Dr. King use in his struggle for inequality?” He used the greatest power in American society to pack a punch more significant than any gun or hit could deliver. He used the power of the dollar, or the lack thereof, to push for progress until something happened. Our attention is often on the marches and the sit-ins. The authorities got angry when the boycotts began and when he advocated a fair wage for all workers.
In this regard, Dr. King finessed the system to its face—and it worked, and was working, so much so that he was murdered during the Poor People’s campaign. In his last book, “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community,” and his later speeches, Dr. King began to stress increasingly the importance of togetherness and community and a collective effort to empower the people economically. He finessed the system, inspired a people, and challenged our thinking. He was a revolutionary.
The Village Micro Fund stands on the shoulders of great giants like Dr. King, and we embrace and uphold his radical vision for the future and his innovative approaches to change. At the Village, we are committed to developing new systems that do not just work for the American masses but work specifically for Black people in our own communities. Dr. King understood that this was the only way to progress in America and that we could no longer sit idly waiting for someone to include us or save us.
We are the promise of hope and change Dr. King saw in his dream, and the time is now to fulfill it. This Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we invite you to join the Village Micro Fund in our efforts to transform Atlanta and the nation. We are creating new financial and economic models that work for our communities and are empowering Black entrepreneurs through teaching, support, and investing.
To learn more about the Village and how you can help in our mission, visit our website at www.villagemicrofund.com or email VMF Vice President Harriett Williams at harriett@villagemicrofund.com. If you want to support in a tangible, mutually beneficial way, consider purchasing merchandise from our online store to remind yourself and the world that “Freedom Ain’t Free.”