August 30, 2017
Page 13
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O PINION
On the Power of Love in Times of Hate
King showed we
can’t ignore problem
of racism
J ose -a ntonio o rosCo
As someone who regu-
larly teaches about the po-
litical philosophy of Mar-
tin Luther King Jr., I often
spend time discussing with
students the ways in which King’s ideas are
taken out of context and turned into sound
bites in order to support positions he would
not himself have taken.
The most obvious example is how his
most memorable line from the “I Have
a Dream” speech about not judging peo-
ple based on the color of their skin but the
content of their character is used to justify
attacks on affirmative action—a policy he
definitely endorsed—or cited in a way to
claim that the best path forward for racial
justice is to somehow ignore race and be-
come colorblind.
The white supremacist violence in Char-
lottesville is proof that we cannot simply try
to ignore the problems of racism now. All
across the country, marches and vigils are
by
scheduled to honor the victims of racist vio-
lence and to stand against the surge of white
nationalist groups in the United States. Peo-
ple are seeking guidance about how to think
about the public and proud resurgence of
this form of bigotry.
Inevitably, the words and ideas of Dr.
King are being invoked, especially his
thoughts on the power of love in times of
hate. One of his quotes, often bandied about,
is this: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out
hate, only love can do that.”
But the hard question is what does it
mean to love and not hate in the aftermath of
Charlottesville? Does it mean it’s somehow
wrong to feel angry or violated about people
proudly brandishing neo-Nazi symbols on
their weapons and shields? Does it mean the
best response is to forgive the purveyors of
violence like the young man who ran down
protestors, killing Heather Heyer in Charlot-
tesville?
In the speeches in which King talked
about love, he often spent time explaining
what he meant; love has several meanings.
In saying that supporters of racial justice had
to have love in their hearts, he didn’t mean
that they had to be continually positive and
upbeat, or that they had to approach racists in
friendship. That’s the kind of love we share
with intimates or friends.
King said the love that we ought to have
in the struggle for justice is the kind that ac-
knowledges all people, even the white su-
premacists, as human beings. And human be-
ings are capable of making their own moral
choices and being held responsible for their
actions. We aren’t called upon to like or be
friendly to those who are racist. It means we
ought not to dehumanize or kill them as part
of our fight for justice.
Someone asked me recently if, out of love,
King wouldn’t have asked to sit down with
a white supremacist and try to listen to their
concerns and understand where they were
coming from, in hopes of some kind of rec-
onciliation and dialogue. I thought about this
and realized that the answer was probably no.
King never asked, for instance, to meet with
Bull Connor, the rabidly racist police chief in
Birmingham, Ala. who sent police dogs to
attack protestors. He never called for public
meetings with ordinary black and white cit-
izens to dialogue.
Instead, he called for marches, boycotts,
and urged legislation that would halt business
as usual in that city, deplete the pocketbooks
of segregationist business owners, and crim-
inalize racist attacks and intimidation. He
wrote in 1963: “It may be true that the law
cannot make a man love me but it can keep
him from lynching me and I think that is im-
portant also.”
This is not to say that fellowship and di-
alogue are not important, especially when
friends approach one another to talk about
their fears, hopes, and biases. But in think-
ing about responses to white supremacy in
the country today, we ought to be clear that
King’s emphasis on love did not mean only
sticking to individual efforts and trying to
change the implicit racism of our friends and
relatives. Toward the end of his life, he called
for a revolution of values that would utterly
transform the United States and its commit-
ment to materialism, racism, and militarism
at institutional levels.
The fight against white supremacy must
be tied to issues of poverty, jobs, reducing
our military and nuclear weapons, curbing
police brutality, and providing decent health
care and education for everyone. These were
all issues of concern for King; this is what he
meant by love.
José-Antonio Orosco, Ph.D, writes for
PeaceVoice and is Associate Professor of
Philosophy: School of History, Philosophy,
and Religion Director, Oregon State Univer-
sity Peace Studies Program.
Condemning the Message but Not the Messenger
Hypocrisy taints
reaction to bigotry
d r . r on d aniels
The vicious assault
on
counter-protesters
in Charlottesville, Va.
by a volatile amalgam
of Neo-Nazis, Ku Klux
Klan, Alt Right and other
white nationalist forces
was one of the most horrific acts of domestic
terrorism in American history. The day after a
Klan-like torch light, racist and anti-Semitic
show of force on the campus of University of
Virginia, a white nationalist terrorist used his
car as a weapon and ploughed through peace-
ful protesters killing Heather Heyer and seri-
ously injuring several other people.
The words of former Ku Klux Klan Im-
perial Wizard David Duke captured the
motive and aspirations of the largest gath-
ering of White Nationalists in recent histo-
ry: “We are determined to take our country
back……. We are going to fulfill the prom-
ises of Donald Trump.” Much of America
and the world was shocked by this vile and
ugly show of force in the “land of the free
and home of the brave.”
Predictably, there was almost universal
expression of outrage and condemnations
of the hateful white nationalist army that
perpetrated the deadly acts of violence in
Charlottesville. Divisions between Demo-
crats and Republicans were swept aside as
political leaders of both parties came for-
ward to vociferously denounce these acts
of terrorism by white supremacists, that is
by
except the President of the United States.
Donald Trump initially condemned the
hatred and violence on “all sides,” thereby
equating the righteous protests of the count-
er-demonstrators with the white supremacist
terrorists; equating those who were standing
for the vision of an inclusive multi-racial,
multi-ethnic society with freedom and jus-
tice for all irrespective of race, ethnicity, na-
tionality, culture, religion, gender or sexual
orientation with those who wish to “Make
America Great Again” by turning the clock
back to the good old days of white male he-
gemony.
The condemnations of Trump were swift
and furious. There was a strong push for
Trump to use the moral authority of the pres-
idency to condemn the white supremacists
by name. Political leaders, pundits and com-
mentators suggested that he was missing his
moment to pull the nation together and heal
its racial divisions. When he eventually did
speak-out, Republicans in particular breathed
a sigh of relief that Trump had finally done
that which was “politically correct.”
But, oops, the sigh of relief was short-
lived. In an impromptu press conference at
Trump Tower in New York, Trump went off
script and unleashed a tirade, angrily dou-
bling down on his original contention that
there was blame on both sides.
From my vantage point the condem-
nation of Trump by the Republicans rings
hollow and hypocritical. Republicans en-
abled Trump by refusing to repudiate him
decisively during the campaign and after his
election to the White House.
Despite a vile and vicious campaign,
clearly Republicans made a calculated de-
cision that power is more important than
principle. They have stood with Trump de-
spite his erratic and often hurtful behavior
as president in hopes of implementing their
rightwing, reactionary agenda.
They know who Trump is. He is the orig-
inator of the racist birther movement that
relentlessly questioned whether President
Barack Obama was born in the U.S. This
is the Donald Trump who cemented his
credibility with xenophobic, anti-immigrant
adherents by blatantly labeling Mexican
immigrants rapists and murderers; the same
Donald Trump who castigated and insulted
an American Judge of Mexican descent; the
same Donald Trump who claimed he did not
know who David Duke was and equivocat-
ed on condemning him; the same Donald
Trump who brought an Alt-Right, White
nationalist Steve Bannon into the White
House as his “Chief Strategist!”
Now their lack of principle and moral
courage has exploded in their faces like a
pus-infected wound. By and large they have
refused to condemn and abandon Trump.
They know him; they enabled him, and they
own him and should suffer the consequenc-
es of their blatant hypocrisy!
Actually, hypocrisy runs deep in the
“conservative” ranks of the Republican
Party. While Richard Nixon was the first
to unveil the “Southern Strategy,” Lee At-
water employed it with devastating effec-
tiveness as a strategist for Ronald Reagan’s
campaign for president. The strategy was
designed to use code words to fuel and en-
flame anti-black sentiment in the South and
was used to appeal to the disgruntled sup-
porters of Alabama Gov. George Wallace.
The real deal is that the rightwing reac-
tionaries have courted, appealed to and ap-
peased white supremacist sentiments and
forces for decades. The only difference is
that Trump made the mistake of doing it
openly. Trump brought the bigots and hat-
ers that conservative Republicans have been
courting under the table, from the fringes,
from the margins into the mainstream of
American politics; from “the outhouse to
the White House.”
Charlottesville may well represent the
dying gasp of the hard core, reactionary,
white supremacist adherents who are now
a formidable force within the Republican
Party. They must be confronted and defeat-
ed. But, they will not succumb willingly or
easily. They are emboldened and energized
by the blessing of Donald Trump and the
complicity of the shriveling, equivocating
hypocrites who have placed power over
principle in their quest to impose their reac-
tionary agenda.
In this crucial moment, those who stand
for a progressive vision of America must
build a powerful social movement uti-
lizing protests, economic sanctions, civil
disobedience and the ballot to righteously
overwhelm the racist and reactionary forc-
es. And, then we must compel this nation
to confront its original sins and hypocrisy
and repair the centuries of damages inflicted
on Native peoples and people of African de-
scent as the basis for creating a “more per-
fect union.”
Dr. Ron Daniels is President of the In-
stitute of the Black World 21st Century and
Distinguished Lecturer at York College City
University of New York