“Identity Politics: Not What Dr. King Was About”
That is simply inaccurate. Martin Luther King, Jr. was definitely into identity politics. One should read page 133 of “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.”:
“The Indian government spent millions of rupees, annually developing housing and job opportunities in villages heavily inhabited by untouchables. Moreover, the prime minister said, if two applicants compete for entrance into entrance into a college or university, one of the applicant being an untouchable and the other of high caste, the school is required to accept the untouchable.
Professor Lawrence Reddick, who was with me during the interview, asked: ‘But isn’t that discrimination?’
‘Well, it may be, “the prime minister answered. “But this is our way of atoning for the centuries for the centuries of injustices we have inflicted upon these people.’”
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a radical non-violent leftist. There is little doubt but that he would have supported today’s affirmative action programs.
