A day late perhaps, but today we're recommending a piece that reminds us of Martin Luther King's other legacy--as an eloquent antiwar activist. King famously referred to the United States as "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." It was true then, and it remains true to this day.
King understood that which many fail to acknowledge today. The most bigoted and racist policies implemented by the US aren't found in the Drug War or the broader criminal justice system; they're in US foreign policy. How else can we account for the collective shrug at the current plight of Yemen, created with US cooperation; the general indifference to civilian casualties of the US targeted assassination program; or the complete lack of accountability for the US bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan or the torture program? We can use a euphemism like national security to make these sound okay, but it really comes down to the fact that to our government, some types of lives matter far more than others.
Read this great piece by Thomas Knapp, and then if you're feeling up to it, check out King's outstanding speech on the subject as well.
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