People Keep Trying To Explain Martin Luther King Jr. To His Own Son
"This is the craziest shit I’ve seen on this site"
After Martin Luther King III, an international human rights activist and the literal son of Martin Luther King Jr, shared a quote from his father on Twitter, some users tried to explain the quote back to him.
Sometimes when I think we have reached peak “Twitter”, something comes along to blow it out of the water. In this case, it’s the responses to a tweet by international human rights activist Martin Luther King III. The Tweet he shared, in response to the George Floyd protests currently going on across America, was a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. His father.
As my father explained during his lifetime, a riot is the language of the unheard.
— Martin Luther King III (@OfficialMLK3) May 28, 2020
It’s a pretty straight-forward post. And as he says in the tweet, MLK is his father. They are literally father and son, both human rights activists. You would think that these facts would stop people replying to the Tweet to try and dispute it, or try to explain to MARTIN LUTHER KING III that he is wrong about what his father meant. But of course, it didn’t stop them. The phenomenon was pointed out by comedian and actor Hari Kondabolu.
WHITE DUDES WHITESPLAINING MARTIN LUTHER KING TO HIS SON. ENJOY. pic.twitter.com/xfpnkJqoDR
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) May 30, 2020
The tweet is not condoning or condemning any of the protests that are going on, it is a quote simply reiterating a point that his father once made, about why the situation then and the situation now might be happening. But that didn’t stop people for feeling the need to explain.
I highly doubt that your father would approve of the burning and looting of cities in your own community. Violence is not what he stood for.
— Hizzy Shotgun (@Hisanel) May 29, 2020
These comments got some deserved backlash from other people.
Why are white people in this man’s comments explaining his own father to him? Nowhere in that tweet does he say he condones or encourages rioting or that his dad would have done so. His father condemned the riots AND THE CONDITIONS THAT MADE THEM INEVITABLE. That’s his point.
— Kim (@bitesizednerd) May 30, 2020
The whitesplaining in the comments to Martin Luther King Jr’s literal flesh and blood is unreal.
For white people who want to do better, start with these anti-racism resources https://t.co/Dx2385m9Q5 pic.twitter.com/Hrwzylealv
— Revé Fisher (@ReveFisher) May 30, 2020
Y’all really telling this man how his own father was? This is the craziest shit I’ve seen on this site
— Rosa Park’s cab driver (@jennyagyei) May 30, 2020
However, the situation was all summed up beautifully in one simple image.
— Leona’s in the house 💕 (@LeonasLoveQuest) May 30, 2020
Now is the time especially for white people to read the room, and not feel the need to input their own ideas into every conversation. Just donate, support, and amplify voices.