The Authenticity of Dr. King: Loving & Serving Humanity

I visited the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN (where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated), and despite the high praise it receives from celebrities such as Ava Duvernay, Oprah Winfrey, and others, I felt disappointed. Although many of the exhibits were impressive, educational, and at times gut wrenching, the museum curators lost me almost immediately, as each visitor who enters the museum is greeted with a giant image of Joe Biden, and the nauseating headline, “The Honorable Joseph Biden, Jr. Public Servant and Visionary”. This is the same Joe Biden who is partly responsible for millions of innocent people being killed due to the illegal US led post 9/11 wars (he didn’t just sign off on these ongoing slaughters, he was one of the architects). This is also the same Joe Biden, who despite knowing that Medicare for All (Universal Healthcare), would save nearly 70,000 lives and $450 billion per year, declared, unequivocally, that any “Medicare for All” legislation that came across his desk would be vetoed! A visionary? Honorable? Please. Conflating the ideologies and actions of war criminals like Joe Biden (and Barack Obama), with Dr. King, is simply wrong. It is also offensive for the National Civil Rights Museum to have such little regard for the loss of human life caused by the US War Machine (think of what I just shared for a moment, and then compare that with Dr. King’s Beyond Vietnam speech, where he said that American power should be “harnessed to the service of peace and human beings, not an inhumane power [unleashed] against defenseless people”). My only guess is that the National Civil Rights Museum has to pander to the DNC and the corporate democrats, in order to receive more funding (much like how there are heart harming recipes for beef dishes on the American Heart Association (AHA) website, so that the AHA can continue to receive financial support from who else, but the Texas Beef Council!). Clearly, the National Civil Rights Museum is okay with compromising the integrity of Dr. King for a few bucks. Capitalism, you gotta love it!

The United States is the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

But they didn’t stop there. They also had Barack Obama images and quotes splashed all around as well. Have they not heard of Dr. Cornel West? Here is what Dr. West had to say in 2014 on the comparisons of Barack Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Barack Obama commits war crimes, Somalia, Yemen. He commits war crimes in Pakistan, Afghanistan,” West said. “Martin Luther King Jr. tried to keep a spotlight on war crimes, to keep track of the innocents killed…There is a major clash. That is why I tell my young brothers and sisters when they walk around with their little sweater Martin, Malcolm and Barack Obama, I say, ‘Please. That’s like Coltrane and Sarah Vaughan and Pat Boone. They are a very different tradition.’ We love brother Pat, but he doesn’t belong on that shirt, and Barack Obama doesn’t belong on that shirt. Let’s be clear.” In addition, it seems to me that Barack Obama has always been most concerned with “celebrity”, and being accepted by the establishment, rather than with taking a stand on real issues. But unfortunately none of this seems to matter to the folks running the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel.

Here is a wonderful passage from Dr. King that I discovered during my visit:

“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize— that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school.

I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others.
I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question.
I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry.
And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked.
I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison.
I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that’s all I want to say.”

Wow. Dr. King’s powerful words reminded me of comments made by Eugene Debs in 1918 (in a statement to the court):
“Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

Incidentally, both Coretta Scott King and her son believed that compassion should extend to animals. Mrs. King went vegan after her son, Dexter Scott King, convinced her that it was the next logical step to living a nonviolent lifestyle. Both family members believe that Dr. King would have converted to a vegan lifestyle too for the same reasons!

Even though I was thrown off by the politicking of the National Civil Rights Museum, and having a potentially solemn visit being turned into something almost farcical, I was still moved and inspired by the experience. I continue to be heartened, and wowed, by the wisdom and actions of Dr. King.

The bottom line on the National Civil Rights Museum? Recommended.

*Update: Since the date that this post was originally shared in 2022, Joe Biden has earned the nickname, Genocide Joe, as he has provided “moral” cover, weapons, and billions of US dollars to Israel for its continued massacre of Palestinians (over 30,000 Palestinians, including more than 11,000 CHILDREN, have been murdered by US backed Israeli forces in just the last 90 days). If he were alive today, I have no doubt that Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and the DNC/GOP, would do everything in their power to silence Dr. King.

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