To a certain kind of reactionary, MLK is actually a hero. You’re laughing, but I’m completely serious. Hear me out.
As the narrative goes, slavery and de jure segregation were genuine evils that needed to be eliminated. MLK and his followers accomplished this, and are to be celebrated for it. As a result of their triumph, it was no longer necessary for the government to treat whites and minorities differently; every man is to be judged based on his ability and character, not the color of his skin. Today, it is the minorities who are the oppressors, by demanding special treatment from the government, and the white people who are oppressed by their demands and their persistent, but unfounded, cries of racism. In that sense, the true heir to King’s mantle is Donald Trump, with Lindsey Graham, the white man who refused to be silenced, in the role of Rosa Parks.
This is, of course, a total load of crap. Affirmative action programs are nowhere near as pervasive as reactionaries believe they are. All of the pertinent statistics show that blacks are far worse off than their supposed victims, which leads to some uncomfortable questions for reactionaries about why that should be the case. Finally, King’s interest in racial justice did not end with paper solutions to legal, political, and economic disparities between the condition of white and black people. After all, he was in Memphis trying to help with a garbage strike when he was assassinated.
In short, the attempt by reactionaries to appropriate the accomplishments and rhetoric of black civil rights leaders is a parody of the real article, and deserves to be treated with contempt.