Whose Dreams Are You Conjuring?
Whose Dreams Are You Conjuring?
Before you quote “I Had a Dream” ask yourself whose dream(s) are you having? Do they benefit you or the current power structure?
People love a good quote.
Around this time of year as we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before we head into Black History Month in the US, we are constantly reminded of quotes from Dr. King’s “I Had A Dream” speech from the March on Washington D.C.
“So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” (Dr. King’s “I Had A Dream” Speech - Middle Section)
Yet, quotes require context and that is usually missing when Dr. King’s words are used to uphold systems and structures that his teachings and activism were pushing heavily against.
Why?
Because the minute Dr. King was assassinated his legacy, words, and actions were co-opted and consumed by the same state that worked overtime to try and silence him and his work.
“But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.” (Dr. King’s “I Had A Dream” Speech - Beginning Section)
This co-option is one of the foundational strategies of dominant power structures. Take a fallen political leader who the state tried to discredit while alive, and once deceased use that legacy as a political tool.
It would take 32 years, but in November 1983 Regan signed the bill and by 1986 MLK Day became an officially celebrated federal holiday. In that process there was always opposition, mainly by those on the right who felt that King was a communist.
Once a federal holiday, the state then puts that legacy to work for its purposes. MLK Day is no exception as it serves to honor the legacy of King, promote civil rights through nonviolent means, and is designated as a national day of service where Americans are encouraged to volunteer in their local communities.
Over the years that federally imaged legacy has been used by all sides of the political line to push agendas focused on upholding state violence in one way or another, while demanding absolute nonviolence from citizens no matter how violent the state is towards them,
And that violence comes in many forms, like:
Increase in policing with both surveillance technology and numbers of police officers, leading to an increase in state sanctioned violence overtime.
Defunding of public services like physical and mental health, education, and early childhood support
Suppression of information and knowledge via book banning and revisionist histories embedded within various state curriculum’s.
Currently, we are in a time where legislation is being proposed to make it illegal to accuse someone of racism, sexism, homophobia, or transphobia. And the Supreme Court’s current track record of upholding American “ideals” by rolling back Civil Rights legislations is reinforcing the reasons why we had someone like a Dr. King in the first place.
When we are fed images of Dr. King’s “dream” being a nonviolent equality utopia as a way to quell dissent by citizens against state sanctioned violence always ask yourself whose dream is really being conjured? And why?
Because all dreams have a cost and to believe in the dreams of Dr. King requires a deep reckoning of the historical past that has gotten us to this inequitable and violent present. This is why dreaming is such a revolutionary and liberatory act, and why our dreams as a collective are monitored and fed back to us to keep minds confined and possibilities narrowed.
So DREAM - but ask yourself whose dreams you are conjuring? Yours that are an expression of your sense of SELF or those told to you that keep you an individual who needs to conform to the masses?
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