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AP Talks MLK's Forgotten 'Complexity' Forgets his Plagiarism & Communist Ties

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On the national holiday that celebrates the birth of famed civil 
rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., the AP decided to 
remind us all that there was more to King than the popularized 
view of him affords. AP says that it is a shame that King has 
been "frozen in a moment in time that ignores the full 
complexity of the man and his message." Who can disagree with 
this? After all, very often notable historical figures end up 
being turned into cardboard cartoons known for that one "frozen 
moment" in history that made them famous.

But, even as the AP argues that we should learn more about the 
whole of MLK's life and take a more measured look at his life 
and works, the AP itself whitewashes several aspects of his real 
life. AP never mentions, for instance, his ties with communists 
nor do they mention Dr. King plagarized parts of his doctoral 
thesis. They don't mention his distrust of capitalism nor his 
support of the concept of special treatment and quotas, an idea 
that strays from his acclaimed position of "equal" treatment. 
So, the AP may want us to avoid putting Dr. King "on a pedestal 
of perfection," but it is also a fact that they only want us to 
know some of King's real record instead of all of it as they 
claim.

The AP has taken the occasion of King's holiday celebration to 
remind us all that the eeevil government was wary of him toward 
the end of his life, to tell us that "by taking on issues 
outside segregation, he had lost the support of many newspapers 
and magazines, and his relationship with the White House had 
suffered."

Yes, it is definitely true that King was not the universally 
loved character that he has been mythologized as today. And, we 
really should take the time to learn more about our famous 
American historical figures, just as the AP advises us to do. 
So, let's look a bit at some of King's warts to balance the 
gauzy portrait we are used to seeing.

Now let us be clear right off the top, here. King's whole record 
-- even that with which many of us will thoroughly disagree -- 
does not detract from the salient fact that he was a seminal 
leader in bringing the U.S. out of its racial oppression. His 
leadership was transformational for shining the light of liberty 
upon a segment of the country that was held back by ignorant 
custom and racial hatred. But, just as the AP urges, his whole 
life's record really should be known so that we can take a full 
measure of the man.

Let us start with the fact that Dr. King plagiarized parts of 
his doctoral dissertation from Boston University. As reported in 
1991, a Boston University investigation concluded that King had 
plagiarized much of his dissertation. "King included in his 
dissertation a good deal of material taken verbatim from a 
variety of other sources without proper attribution (or any 
attribution at all), an act which constitutes plagiarism by any 
reasonable academic standard."

The University decided not to revoke his degree. After all, his 
iconic status would have made a target of the school by King's 
followers and the effort to reveal the truth and take measures 
that might have been leveled at any other student who had been 
so fraudulent in their dissertation would be troublesome at 
best. It was just easier for the university to forget the whole 
thing.

Obviously, Boston University wasn't too interested in the AP's 
advice to celebrate King's "complexity." And who can blame them?

King was also under surveillance by the FBI because he 
surrounded himself with known and vocal members of the Communist 
Party of the US. Several close King associates were openly 
communists. Stanley Levinson, Jack O’Dell, and Bayard Rustin 
(who stayed in close communication with Benjamin Davis) were all 
communists or past party members. King also frequently spoke 
before the National Lawyers Guild and Lawyers for Democratic 
Action, both of which were directly and openly tied to the 
Communist Party. He also attended seminars put on by the 
Highlander Folk School, another organization with Communist ties.

I will point out, though, that King himself was never 
successfully identified as a member of the communist party and 
he did denounce the Soviets early in his civil rights career, so 
to say King himself was an outright communist is a step too far 
to take. However, it is true that his cures for the past ill 
treatment of black Americans was increasingly leading down the 
road to socialist ideals.

For instance, King was not a capitalist, free marketeer and he 
had drifted toward racial quotas as he neared his final years of 
activism. In a 1968 Playboy interview, King said,"If a city has 
a 30% Negro population, then it is logical to assume that 
Negroes should have at least 30% of the jobs in any particular 
company, and jobs in all categories rather than only in menial 
areas." So, quotas was the remedy as far as Dr. King was 
concerned. His was an ideology of democratic socialism not "the 
American way."

So, in conclusion, let me say that I agree with the AP that we 
should learn more about the lives, writings and ideas of our 
historical figures, including Martin Luther King, Jr. But, I 
should rather think that the AP would want to reveal the whole 
man, warts and all, and not to further white wash his life if 
they really wanted to follow their own advice.

Clearly they don't, however.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/01/21/ap-
talks-mlks-forgotten-complexity-forgets-his-plagiarism-commun
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AP Talks MLK's Forgotten 'Complexity' Forgets his Plagiarism & Communist Ties "Ronny Koch" <rkoch@banmlkday.com> - 2022-01-24 02:51 +0100

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