Today many are celebrating the life of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King jr. MLK is a leader who many activists idolize and work to emulate. Recently, I have shared in many of his thoughts on the so called white liberals as my criticisms mirror those of Dr. King as the issues continue to be the same across multiple generations and multiple movements including the disability rights movement because the parralels between the white moderates whom Dr. King criticized in 1963 and nonprofit advocacy organizations whom many disability activists are criticizing in 2019 couldn't be clearer.
They consistently talk about self advocates being uncompromising, mad, immature, participating in a circular firing squad, blowing up and burning bridges, in need of further support ,alienating allies and a variety of other sentiments about our work.
It's similair to the rhetoric, in the spring of 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King along with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began to organize a series of nonviolent protests in Alabama. These protests consisted of demonstrations and sit-ins that targeted white-owned businesses and churches. The City of Birmingham ordered them to cease the protests. In an act of blatant civil disobedience, King and the protesters ignored the injunction in an act of direct civil disobedience, King and 50 protesters were subsequently arrested.
Following the incident, a group of white clergymen wrote a letter, titled, “A Call for Unity,” in which, they criticized the confrontational nature of the protests and called for the black community to obey the injunction and seek redress through lawful means:
"We the undersigned clergymen are among those who, in January, issued “An Appeal for Law and Order and Common Sense,” in dealing with racial problems in Alabama. We expressed understanding that honest convictions in racial matters could properly be pursued in the courts, but urged that decisions of those courts should in the meantime be peacefully obeyed."
The clergymen also criticized the demonstrations as “unwise and untimely” and being led by “outsiders”:
"However, we are now confronted by a series of demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens, directed and led in part by outsiders. We recognize the natural impatience of people who feel that their hopes are slow in being realized. But we are convinced that these demonstrations are unwise and untimely."
After pointing out that some of the Black leadership disagreed with the methods of king and his colleagues—“We agree rather with certain local Negro leadership which has called for honest and open negotiation of racial issues in our area”—they went on to argue that the protests were inciting “hatred and violence”:
"Just as we formerly pointed out that “hatred and violence have no sanction in our religious and political traditions,” we also point out that such actions as incite to hatred and violence, however technically peaceful those actions may be, have not contributed to the resolution of our local problems. We do not believe that these days of new hope are days when extreme measures are justified in Birmingham."
They finished off thier letter calling for “law and order and common sense”:
"When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets. We appeal to both our white and Negro citizenry to observe the principles of law and order and common sense."
In response, King wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” in which he noted that freedom must be demanded by the oppressed and that there’s no such thing as being "well timed" when it comes to confronting systemic oppression:
"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”
King also criticized the white moderate because they seemed more devoted to order than to justice:
"I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
He continued on to defend his fellow protesters citing that they were not the cause of the tension, they were simply were merely making an effort to bring that tension to light:
"I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured."
King also noted that perhaps he had been too optimistic in thinking that the white moderate would see the need for “strong, persistent, and determined action”:
"I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action."
He also praised those white allies—”few in quantity,” but “big in quality”—who were in the trenches with him and committed to taking action and joining the civil rights movement in an effort to pursue a necessary social revolution:
"I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some—such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle—have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as “dirty nigger-lovers.” Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful “action” antidotes to combat the disease of segregation."
All these so called allies calling for "order" and "comprimise" and attempting to instill a pseudo sense of unity and peace in the face of what is becoming a massive systemic injustice are no different than these eight white clergymen who called out Dr King for “unity” called King and his “outsiders.” They are doing the same thing in 2019 to the Self Advocates of the modern day Disability Justice movement.
Much like white clergymen who criticized King’s protests as “untimely and unwise,” The sentiment of the advocacy group allies seems to be: “We’re in the legislative session, so all these disabled people trying to advocate for themselves should chill out or else they’re going to hurt our chances at passing our organizational agenda, Now is not the time.”
Third, just as the white clergymen called for the protesters to negotiate with city leaders rather than take to the streets, So have many people wonder why I chose to voice publicly criticize State Senator Jim Abeler for his Autism Council rather than ask him politely for a rap session behind closed doors.(even though I did both)
Fourth, just as the white clergymen pointed to other Black leaders who disagreed with King’s tactics—“[w]e agree rather with certain local Negro leadership which has called for honest and open negotiation of racial issues in our area”—in order to bolster support for their own criticism, so too have many white progressives latched on to the criticisms of other people with Disabilities who disagree with the’ tactics of the greater disability rights movement to promote their own criticism but every movement has conflict between leaders i.e Malcolm vs MLK.
The similarities between the white moderate of the 1960s and the white liberal of 2019 who are overrepresented in disability Advocacy orgs are nearly identical They claim to be so devoutely "progressive", but they act more like the white clergymen who opposed King than the white allies who supported King as they are the first to criticize activists of all movements for not being more like King. Demanding that they follow Kings tactics
The Martin Luther King Jr. People hold up as this hippie sort of symbol of peace love and tranquility isn't the real Martin Luther King Jr . MLK was a disruptor. MLK was a lawbreaker. MLK was not beholden to protesting the right thing, at the right time or on other peoples schedules.
King recognized as I do that the right time to do something about injustice and systemic oppression is right now. Not tommorrow, not when you get off, not 6 weeks from now. Right now!
Those who have responded to my guest blog on the Council on Disability by being offended, probably should be offended. Those who have threatend to walk away from me or say that I've lost a supporter ( as if it's some sort of threat) are the precise sort of folks who, unlike true allies, refuse to recognize the urgency of this moment. They are more concerned with tone and respectability politics than they are about the civil rights of people with Disabilities
And sadly, many are more concerned with gaining votes from my community than they are improving the quality of our lives and defending our rights and liberties.
“We support Disability rights, but not the tactics of these self advocates.”
“You’re hurting the chance of electig the only person who cares about you.”
“ insert long time parent activist name here" was fighting for you before you were born.”
" If you give us your story to use in our testimony we will now sure POC who have disabilities are spoken for and incorporated"
Once again these are all the same claims of the white clergymen who asked Dr. King and the protesters to “observe the principles of law and order and common sense.” These are not the claims of allies. These are the claims of oppressors or, at a minimum, of people so comfortable with ableism and the privileges it grants, that they aren’t truly willing to take the necessary action to do anything real about it.
To my so called allies , critical of my reprimand to the advocacy organizations, asking people to sit down and shut up until after session or to wait until time is convinent for you. I'm here to tell you that’s not going to happen.
There can be no order or unity when certain people assault the work of self advocates and there can't be any forward movement when the response from our supposed allies when we express frusteration. Towards you is I'm not able-ist, some of my best friends are disabled or I had a cast for 6 months so I know everything about the barriers you face in everyday life. There cant be any sort of collective victory , when you continuously demonstrate that you care more about the order of the status quo and advancing your organizational agenda than you care about the every day lives of the people you claim to represent and support.
You can continue to criticize and continue to attempt to preserve the statutes quo. It's fine, but know this: We are not going to sit down and shut up, we will keep speaking out and we will keep moving forward..we will just do it without you.
