Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

conix, When Martin Luther King was accused of inciting violence

By German Lopez @germanrlopez [e-mail] Updated Jan 12, 2018, 10:22am EST


Gabriella Demczuk/Getty Images

Martin Luther King Jr. is cherished by most Americans, treated as one of the greatest peaceful protesters in history, and heralded for bringing people together to help combat racism in the US.

But it wasn't always this way.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, King was repeatedly derided by his opponents for inciting violence. The FBI even investigated .. http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/11/12/7204453/martin-luther-king-fbi-letter .. him, fearing his potential impact on US society. The White House, meanwhile, seriously feared that the March on Washington would lead to riots and violence — something that seems completely absurd today.

[...]

President John F. Kennedy's brother and then-US attorney general, Robert Kennedy, invoked many of these fears in justifying what amounted to a preparation for war in DC. According to Nick Bryant of BBC News .. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23790147 , Robert Kennedy told his brother during a tense White House meeting, "Negroes are now just antagonistic and mad and they're going to be mad at everything. You can't talk to them. My friends all say [even] the Negro maids and servants are getting antagonistic."

[...]

We tend to demonize groups we don't agree with

https://www.vox.com/2016/1/18/10777146/mlk-day-martin-luther-king