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Dangerous Compassions

riot

And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? … It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity. –Martin Luther King Jr.


I think about MLK a lot–we live right by the street MLK, here in Las Vegas. NDE has a float in the MLK parade every January. I have a friend whose favorite event of the year is this parade.


Some say MLK was the good cop to Malcolm X’s bad cop. Some say he was a placating suited compromising panderer. Some people need him to be the villain who didn’t do enough or go far enough.


He said some great things. I love that riot quote. He’s stating the obvious, but in a clear, beautiful way. And to many people, it’s not so obvious. How many years ago was this? So much for progress.


I read about looting today, how the shiny products behind the windows represent what we sacrifice our lives for. So it makes sense, that they’re actual, possibly useful things, but also symbolize the success that was promised and denied. Work hard and you too can have the shiny things. Or just food, a place to live, basic well-being. But when the whole system is rigged, can you blame anyone for being angry about that?


The cards were dealt such that I have a lot of privilege. White, educated (for what it is), mostly physically abled. Cis, read as straight. I have community and Ming and more than enough food and shelter. I’m ok. I don’t have the anger that would motivate me to riot, and I thank God I never smashed a window. That’s luck, not moral anything. I’ve never been in a position where I needed to riot.


I wish I could live in a world where everyone is loved, nurtured, treated fairly, has their needs met, and is not exploited. I mean I wish everyone had what I have today. My fortunate circumstances could be normal, should be normal. If justice mattered and wealth wasn’t hoarded.


I’m an activist for love, working on projects to bring good in the ways that suit my skills. Maybe one day, rioting would make sense for me.


At the MLK parade, there are ROTC kids who march, to honor MLK. Lots of conversative weirdness going on there. Like they missed everything MLK actually said, about war and the evil triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism.


I’m no scholar for this, but I heard some words from MLK, and he was a badass. He’s not the easy sanitized idealization I was taught about in elementary school. He was assassinated for a reason, right? He was amazing.


I like the MLK quote also “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is nearing spiritual death.”


He said that long ago. So did the US die, spiritually? What does that mean, for a nation to experience spiritual death? Maybe we’re in it. Or the US is a zombie, died in the 1980s.


MLK’s metaphor is a little confusing, and I like that. I like that he talked about the spirit. I’m no Christian, but I can listen to all of that.



By Laura-Marie

Good at listening to the noise until it makes sense.

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