Today regarded as an American icon, in his actual life, Martin Luther King Jr. was mostly villainized for his human rights efforts. On this MLK Jr.’s Day, yours truly reflects on the toll inflicted on Black Los Angeles over the last two years of the pandemic; Black people remain over-represented in L.A. County hospitalizations for COVID-19, as well as in the county’s traffic stops, jail cells, and–most deplorably of all–L.A.’s homelessness encampments.
J.T.
JT, you’re totally correct that the usual suspects who’ve long oppressed and suppressed our fellow Black Americans were doing all they could to neutralize Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Those in power cling to it oftentimes with ironclad hands, even if they get bloodied. The concept of sharing power and bringing equality to ALL THE PEOPLE is utterly foreign to these powermongers. Truth prevailed, and we still honor and admire the humane MLK Jr., while despising the hatred and oppression of those who demonized him.