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[-] [email protected] 33 points 3 days ago

See if you can spot the difference between Bernie's statement and MLK's:

Let me say as I've always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. ... But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. 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, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.

I don't think it's at all unreasonable to criticize Bernie for leaving that second part unsaid. Not to mention the point Hasan was making, which was picking this moment to talk about nonviolence - at a time when Trump is preemptively painting the protests as violent and insurrectionist - affirms Trump's framing and justifies police escalation.

I'm with Hasan here, this was tone-deaf of Bernie, if not completely hypocritical.

Bonus MLK quote:

These are the times for real choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

MLK Jr.'s speech on riots being the voice of the unheard was powerful, and stabbed at the heart of a complex issue.

But a year before that speech, here's what he had to say about the Watts riots:

“What did Watts accomplish but the death of thirty-four Negroes and injury to thousands more? What did it profit the Negro to burn down the stores and factories in which he sought employment? The way of riots is not a way of progress, but a blind ally of death and destruction which wrecks its havoc hardest against the rioters themselves” (King, 12 March 1966).

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

Uhhh, yes, he did say that.... While addressing black americans living in the slums of Chicago, pleading with them not to "strike out with revenge against white people for the many wrongs perpetrated against you and yours".

I don't really think there's any comparison between the Watts riots and the nature of the LA protests, not even close.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

I don’t really think there’s any comparison between the Watts riots and the nature of the LA protests

See if you can spot the difference between Bernie’s statement and MLK’s:

Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. … But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard.

I didn't compare them. You did.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

MLK wasn't discussing Watts in that quote, he was speaking very broadly about placing emphasis on the conditions that lead to riots instead of the riots themselves, and specifically on how much condemnation to place on them vs the conditions that lead to them.

In yours, he's speaking directly to people who are living in a slum where violent retribution was a commonly understood feeling, and who had every reason to feel justified in lashing out in revenge. He specifically uses Watts as an example of an extreme expression of that revenge.

The LA protestors are not lashing out in revenge - I don't think that quote, in the context in which it was given, applies to the protestors in LA. And I don't think MLK's thoughts on Watts in particular have any applicability to what's happening in LA, but I do think it's worthwhile for Sanders to take a lesson from MLK on where to place his condemnations.

this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025
221 points (81.3% liked)

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