The concept espoused by Dr King, namely “love the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed the person does” is firmly rooted in scripture, as Christ teaches his followers to love the sinner but hate the sin. This is the root of many of the churchs teachings on topics ranging from homosexuality to warfare. Regarding comments made in class regarding parallels between todays Black Lives Matter movement and the mid twentieth century civil rights movements, I would disagree with the assertion that Dr. King would approve of todays general culture of unrest.
The Black Lives Matter platform as formally organized, advocates for the dissolution of the western prescribed nuclear family, this is one of the primary goals of the movement that Dr. King would resist with gusto, in his own words, King espouses the nuclear family as the single most important organization within a society, saying: “The group consisting of mother, father and child is the main educational agency within mankind”
Dr. King would also speak out against the widespread destruction of private property, ironically occurring primarily within minority majority neighborhoods, which at this point has likely exceeded hundreds of billions of dollars. King, when saying “riots are the language of the unheard” was not justifying or defending violent property destruction, but merely emphasizing he understood the anger behind such behavior. In fact, a quotation from his speech regarding such activities from a Stanford speech captures this balance of rhetoric perfectly: “It is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots.” This quotation gives much needed context to the quote that BLM activists are currently using to justify their felonious behavior. Half of understanding rhetoric is context, something many people lack in our information overloaded society. To drive this point home, this excerpt from the paragraph preceding his “riots are the language of the unheard” soundbite drastically changes the message of the aforementioned sentence: “Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I’m still convinced that nonviolence is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and justice. I feel that violence will only create more social problems than they will solve.”
Simply put, I find it comical that one would believe that Dr Martin Luther King would support Black Lives Matter. There is simply not enough evidence to convince me that a conservative southern Baptist preacher would advocate for the abolition of the nuclear family and support violent destruction of minority neighborhoods