This is hardly persuasive. I am an anti-Zionist. I do not misunderstand or fail to appreciate what Zionism has meant and continues to mean to European Jews and their descendants in modern Israel. And yet, Zionism and Israel cannot be distinguished from what is has meant and continues to mean (discursively and materially) to Palestinians. Zionism is the negation of Palestinian rights and existence. It is an ideology crafted without consideration for Palestinians as the indigenous people of the land. What Israel is and has been is more than a sin. MLK's position is flawed. He's not a saint and I don't blame him for his ideological understanding of Israel but it is a deeply flawed perspective. His very language is indicative: "outpost of democracy in the world." This is not unlike the claims of Zionists and Europeans who said Israel would be an outpost of civilization in a land of barbarism (see Herzl). MLK was wrong about Israel. That doesn't mean we have to cancel him or ignore his immense contributions. But Israel is today everything MLK would oppose: a discriminatory state that has not only dispossessed the native people of their land but continues to do so and in the most violent ways. I could go on but this essay is sorely lacking in a meaningful and honest assessment of Israel as a state created in colonial times and committed to the dispossession of the Palestinian people. It is, as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have concluded (among others), an apartheid state that has institutionalized Jewish supremacy. That's not what MLK would ever stand for and I can only imagine that he would see the situation very differently were he alive today.
“ If your point of view is we should only honor humans who had a morally clean history you will be left honoring Jesus alone.” Not finished reading but this statement stopped me in my tracks! This needs yo be said MORE OFTEN.
Thank you @Connie for a thoughtful and beautifully written piece. I'm sharing this on social media
This is hardly persuasive. I am an anti-Zionist. I do not misunderstand or fail to appreciate what Zionism has meant and continues to mean to European Jews and their descendants in modern Israel. And yet, Zionism and Israel cannot be distinguished from what is has meant and continues to mean (discursively and materially) to Palestinians. Zionism is the negation of Palestinian rights and existence. It is an ideology crafted without consideration for Palestinians as the indigenous people of the land. What Israel is and has been is more than a sin. MLK's position is flawed. He's not a saint and I don't blame him for his ideological understanding of Israel but it is a deeply flawed perspective. His very language is indicative: "outpost of democracy in the world." This is not unlike the claims of Zionists and Europeans who said Israel would be an outpost of civilization in a land of barbarism (see Herzl). MLK was wrong about Israel. That doesn't mean we have to cancel him or ignore his immense contributions. But Israel is today everything MLK would oppose: a discriminatory state that has not only dispossessed the native people of their land but continues to do so and in the most violent ways. I could go on but this essay is sorely lacking in a meaningful and honest assessment of Israel as a state created in colonial times and committed to the dispossession of the Palestinian people. It is, as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have concluded (among others), an apartheid state that has institutionalized Jewish supremacy. That's not what MLK would ever stand for and I can only imagine that he would see the situation very differently were he alive today.
Thank you for evidence that I am not alone in thinking this way. Would that I had your voice to express it.
“ If your point of view is we should only honor humans who had a morally clean history you will be left honoring Jesus alone.” Not finished reading but this statement stopped me in my tracks! This needs yo be said MORE OFTEN.