Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Martin Luther King Jr. Does Not Belong on a Party Flyer

I blogged about the Martin Loofa Exfoliating Gloves (See: Martin Loofa Gloves ), and now I want to address something that is equally as disturbing: Martin Luther King Jr.'s name and likeness on party flyers. Check out these flyers:

No School? No ID? Using the man who fought for education and the right to vote? and with Dr. Dre's Beats headphones on? Really folks? What's next? Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks in lace front wigs sprawled over a 70's Buick sitting on 24s to promote your next "Ladies Get in Free Before 12" event? [I know...don't give them any ideas...I'm just saying]

Martin Luther King Jr. is a national icon in the history of progressivism. He was awarded the noble peace prize for combating racial inequality through non-violence, and he is best known as a prominent leader in the civil rights movement for African Americans...better still, there is a monument in Washington, D.C. dedicated to him. We celebrate his accomplishments every year via a federal holiday, President Obama is going to be sworn in at his second Inauguration using Dr. King's Bible, and this is how WE choose to depict Dr. King?

Martin Luther King Jr. belongs in the schools, in our churches, memorialized in our history, but not in the club! This goes beyond "we have to do better"...your thoughts? Let's talk.




10 comments:

  1. I agree... I expressed a similar sentiment in my blog: http://shutchergobbigemowf.blogspot.com/2013/01/three-ways-to-not-honor-dr-martin.html

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  2. Thank you for your comments Ty. Every year around Dr. King's holiday, we see this madness! It's disrespectful.

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  3. Ridiculous! They wouldn't dare try that in Atlanta! I have never seen such a thing!!

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  4. How about that? They would be run out of town in Atlanta for this madness!SMH

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  5. I agree totally! This is absurd. It’s an atrocity. This hits several principles expressed in the Willie Lynch Letter. The non-adulation, exploitation and disrespect of Young Black for Older Black are paramount. The pimping of our legacy and demeaning the life of one of our greatest leaders is appalling. I wouldn’t like it if it was President Obama and he doesn’t compare to the significance in our lives that Dr King does. It’s the shallow work of a disconnected, reactionary idiot. That person thought they were being clever and insulted a nation of millions. How stupid could someone be? They could have chosen Tavis or Cornell, but Dr King is off-limits. What’s even more pitiful is that someone is not going to have a problem with this. No, not just the Klan and GOP zealots, but some dumb-arsed, handkerchief head party promoter and his crew thinks he’s created some fine marketing piece.
    Damn,……..Dumb,………probably young!

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  6. They have to be young. Older folks know better and have more respect for history. Thanks for your comments Robert.

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  7. I actually have seen this in Atlanta, sad to say. Drives me mad. What needs to happen is an outright revolt when we see it. Way to often, we turn a blind eye to this type of atrocity. In the same way we revolted against that Baby Mommas Madness reality show, we need to boycott this kind of crap. I say, pull the number off of the flyer and everyone of us call and tell them how we feel about it. And not in nice terms. Find their event pages on FB, and leave a note about how they should be ashamed of themselves. make them try and explain it away. If nothing else, it will give them pause next time they try to do this shiggety. I'm starting with the ones mentioned above.
    PS -> Watch your backs Ignoranticals...I'm coming after you!
    DC in ATL

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  8. *hollering* "Watch your back Ignoranticals!" I know that's right DC from the ATL. You are right. Folks got vocal about that ignorant "All My Babies' Mamas" show and as a result it was cancelled. All it takes is a movement and folks will get the message.

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  9. I would have to agree with the comments above. This is blatant ignorance and obviously someone with no sense of history or the significance of what he did and who he is. It's sad how easily we forget the struggle and what those that came before us endured to achieve this freedom that we take for granted. They fought for us to have the right to do and say what we want I just wish more of us were compelled to use it for the edification of others and not to spread madness and ignorance. We have to remember that the world is watching (the internet reaches the masses around the world) and they will judge us on what we do today and tomorrow. We're making history everyday so we need to be more conscience of the images we project and how we represent ourselves if we want the rest of the world to value us as the people we are. It's bad enough how the media portrays us to them but when we do it to ourselves we only have ourselves to blame. With that said lets try to make a conscience effort to eliminate the N-Word from our daily vocabularies because if we don't they certainly won't.

    W.O. in the ATL

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  10. Thank you W.O. from the ATL where Dr. King's legacy lives and breathes! Images are everything. I would hate to think that a young child's first image of Dr. King would be on a party flyer.

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