The 50th anniversary of MLK’s sacrificial death is upon us. He is the “greatest American” for the reason of the complete veracity of his critique of American hypocrisy, venality and hate, and his dream of what might be- and will be by the grace of God: the triumph of love.
He is the greatest American for believing in the triumph of a love that embraces truth and justice as the proof of a American polity that works. America is not a polity that works for a few- the fabulous and filthy rich, but for all. And especially for those on whose backs capitalism and the wealth of nations was made possible to begin with: Red genocide and Black slave labor.
The exceptionalism of America must not be a racist joke. This is the essence of King’s prophetic oratory. For America to rightfully aspire and claim the destiny it longs for, it must deserve it; Americans must rise to this task of acknowledging and redeeming its tragic history.
The problem of racism, economic exploitation (corporatism) and militarism is as American as apple pie. It is a problem that appalling few Americans grok. The liberal elites- forget about conservatives, can not grok the enormity of the problem. Our first biracial president could not grok the enormity of the problem. Our first female Democratic Party nominee for the presidency could not grok the enormity of the problem.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren can not grok the enormity of the problem.
Congress can not grok…
What is wrong with America?
The most simple and cogent answer is that ideological corporatism has America by the balls. America is run by corporations. Politicians are owned by corporations- AND special interests, which are in turn exploitive and racist in nature.
American foreign policy is completely corporatized and racist. Saudi Arabia and Israel are the two most jingoistic nations in the world. Both are fully dedicated to a sick and racist faux religious nationalism. Saudi Arabia claims to be the guardian of Islam’s two most holy places of pilgrimage, Mecca and Medina- but has utterly defiled them with a materialistic fanatic iteration of revisionist Islam. Israel has done exactly the same with its embrace of Zionist Apartheid. Both countries have become fantastic vortices of raging religious nationalism- but are America’s best friends in the Middle East.
Is there any wonder how and why America has such a raging problem with corporatism, racism and violence? America’s foreign policy is the mirror of its own domestic catastrophe. There are more blacks now incarcerated than were held as slaves at the time of the Civil War. This was exactly what MLK talked about so eloquently 50 years ago: our domestic racism is conditioned and guaranteed by our corporate violence abroad. Halliburton invaded Iraq and murdered brown bodies with “Shock and Awe” even as corporate greed twisted politicians to criminalize and imprison brown bodies here in the land of apple pie.
But the greatest American lives on; Yes, the greatest American lives on!
