Kevin McCarthy Quoted MLK. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez And Bernice King Had Some Blunt Advice.
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Bernice King led the criticism of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy after the California Republican cited her father Martin Luther King Jr. to attack the teaching of critical race theory.
McCarthy on Monday joined conservatives misrepresenting critical race theory, claiming it “goes against everything Martin Luther King has ever told us.” He also accused “the Left” of “trying to take America backward.”
Critical Race Theory goes against everything Martin Luther King Jr. taught us—to not judge others by the color of their skin. The Left is trying to take America backward. pic.twitter.com/ZUx9Wu319Q
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) July 12, 2021
Bernice King, the civil rights leader’s youngest daughter, encouraged McCarthy to “study my father’s teachings & words well beyond the last lines of ‘I Have A Dream.’”
“This nation has yet to firmly commit to the intensive, multi-faceted work of eradicating racism against Black people,” King added. “You should help with that.”
Rep. McCarthy, I encourage you to study my father’s teachings & words well beyond the last lines of ‘I Have A Dream.’ This nation has yet to firmly commit to the intensive, multi-faceted work of eradicating racism against Black people. You should help with that. Please read this: pic.twitter.com/mhiLvvNdxM
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) July 13, 2021
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) responded with another King quote that was “not from an early work.”
“If all sorts of folks who claim ‘what MLK would do’ actually studied his work, they would understand he was a radical,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “And an anticapitalist, too.”
“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of a sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.”
- Martin Luther King Jr, 1967 https://t.co/kvNpxyBQe1— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 13, 2021
This quote of King’s is not from an early work. It was one of his last words, from “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”
If all sorts of folks who claim “what MLK would do” actually studied his work, they would understand he was a radical. And an anticapitalist, too.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 13, 2021
Others agreed:
What about these words by Martin Luther King Jr, @GOPLeader?
The United States is "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."
There's plenty more choice quotes by MLK here. You can't just pick the parts of MLK that you like. https://t.co/pwT86hXvXH. https://t.co/cdQBXQeNm4— Viet Thanh Nguyen (@viet_t_nguyen) July 12, 2021
Just when you thought they couldn't go lower, the leader of the racist Republican effort to disenfranchise people of color cynically distorts the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in an effort to rile up racist base with racist myths https://t.co/zx6yzv9IVY
— Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) July 13, 2021
Pretty sure CRT does not go against everything Martin Luther King Jr. taught us. https://t.co/XOOB6dnJYw
— David Knowles (@writerknowles) July 12, 2021
Enraging as always to see the GOP kidnap King's name to fuel their white supremacy, thus betraying they either know nothing of his life or knowingly pervert it. The modern GOP would be frothing in rage on Fox to see King's ouevre on the streets today. https://t.co/TIN6kbUOG7
— Robert Hallock🌹 (@Thracks) July 13, 2021
Also on HuffPost
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
