Gutenberg: Against Idolizing MLK

In high school, I bought a few DVDs called Speeches That Changed the World. It’s around this time that I started loving the words, rhetoric, cadence, and message of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The “Dream” speech, of course, is the classic, but the stirring and eerie prophecy of the “Mountaintop” speech gripped me just as much. As I studied for ministry and became a pastor, Dr. King’s “drumming for justice” and his ability to string together diverse coalitions (racially, ideologically, theologically, etc.) have been a consistent source of inspiration. And obviously any preacher loves to imagine in his/her own head mesmerizing congregations as King did! That being said, this next part may come as a surprise:

I fear that we, and by we, I mean my fellow white Americans, have turned Dr. King into an idol.   

The Bible and particularly the Old Testament have much to say about idolatry. The first commandment “you shall have no other gods before me” includes a prohibition on “making for yourself” any idol from heaven, sea, or earth (Ex 20:3-4, NRS). Idols for the Old Testament not only challenge the God of Israel’s reign on earth, but they displace the unique value of human life in which every human being already bears God’s image (Gen. 1:27); in other words, you don’t need to make your own images of God. For a poignantly satirical description of the idols of the nations roundabout Israel, check out Psalm 115:

 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.

 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.

 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats.

8 Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.

Now I admit I have always read this last line as sticking it to the idol-worshipers: “You guys are as dumb as your idols!” But a good comparison works both ways. If there’s one thing that is true of every idol that we humans make, it is that they are like us. When an idol speaks, it speaks only about the character of its manufacturer. A true living God sends prophets such as Jeremiah, Amos, Ezekiel, Micah, and the list goes on who speak harsh words that challenge us. An idol never tells us something we would not want to hear because…well, we designed it! 

…Which brings me back to the present. The past couple weeks. I have seen white friends posting pictures of Dr. King. But something has happened. Many of them turn Dr. King posthumously against today’s civil rights protests.

The most popular meme I have seen is this:

At the very least, we can say that this is a cruel misappropriation of Dr. King’s legacy to turn the ghost of King against the very people and causes he gave his life trying to advance. While it’s true that Dr. King taught nonviolent protest, our focusing on isolated examples of destruction and mischief (often perpetrated by people with their own ends distinct from the protests) misses the larger point: The dignity of all lives, and yes, black lives was Dr. King’s life’s work. There’s no world in which he would not be 100 percent behind the aims of the protesters. Except for one world: the world of white idolatry.

The real Dr. King in his “Mountaintop” speech compared himself to Moses looking across the Jordan: he said he would not himself get to the Promised Land. He could see ahead, but he and the cause of civil rights, equality, and justice were not there yet. The idol Dr. King, on the other hand, offers a simpler narrative: he “changed the world;” it emphasizes King’s work as a fait accompli.  

The real Dr. King’s legacy is no less noble than the idol King’s, but much more complicated. The changes were and are hard-fought and slow-in-coming. One particularly sharp critique from a black friend crossed out the last line in the meme above and wrote “they killed him anyway.” Bitter, but it’s the truth. It’s a reminder that King’s nonviolent protest, so celebrated by white people now, was terribly unpopular in his own day. An August 1963 poll by Gallup showed 23% of Americans with a favorable view of the March on Washington. King himself before he died told his wife that his next speech was to be titled “America May Go to Hell.”   

But instead of allowing King to change the world, or the harder part, to change ourselves, we changed Dr. King. Instead of taking Dr. King’s prophetic words that “Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention,” we molded him into someone who might occasionally gently point out the failings of our barbaric southern ancestors, but would never tell us something that we don’t want to hear about ourselves. We heard a living, prophetic voice for God’s justice and responded by fabricating an idol.   

For the last few years, I have come to believe that my unborn child’s generation will learn about the peaceful, dignified, prophetic protest of Colin Kaepernick the same way my generation grew up learning about Dr. King. But will they learn from his message?

James E. Smith is a pastor serving at Trinity Episcopal and St. John’s Lutheran Churches. For comments, questions, or rebuttals, fire off an e-mail at [email protected]. Prosit!


Any views or opinions expressed in “Gutenberg” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Watershed Voice staff or its board of directors.