When I first heard Jamie Foxx would be playing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a biopic directed by Oliver Stone, I was extremely excited to see what they would come up with. Both men are such incredibly talented artists that there was a great chance for them to create a masterpiece that would transcend time. Yet when I heard Stone decided to drop out of the project because of his creative differences with King’s estate, I was initially upset, but after further consideration, I’m actually glad Stone has pulled out of the project.
Sad news. My MLK project involvement has ended. I did an extensive rewrite of the script, but the producers won’t go with it.
— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 17, 2014
The script dealt w/ issues of adultery, conflicts within the movement, and King’s spiritual transformation into a higher, more radical being
— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 17, 2014
The creative differences that caused the rift between Stone and MLK’s estate were largely due in part to Stone’s massive rewrite of the script to include issues of adultery and King’s “spiritual transformation.” Truth be told, MLK’s alleged acts of adultery have been one of the more obscure aspects of his life story and it may have been interesting to see how Stone wrote that into a script. I agree with his vision of wanting to humanize King and not present him as a flawless deity free of inner-conflict, which truly does a disservice to King’s intrinsic humanity. But the reason I’m happy Stone dropped out of this project is because he was going to tell a story about this man’s life that doesn’t NEED to be told, like the one that opposes the bastardization of MLK. I’d rather see the story that opposes the bastardization of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the big screen.
I’m told the estate & the ‘respectable’ black community that guard King’s reputation won’t approve it. They suffocate the man & the truth.
— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 17, 2014
I wish you could see the film I would’ve made. I fear if ‘they’ ever make it, it’ll be just another commemoration of the March on Washington
— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 17, 2014
What’s this bastardization I speak of?
Yesterday morning, I woke up to see the hashtag #PetaMeals trending, as a result of an insensitive and ignorant tweet from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that alluded to MLK being nothing more than a social justice action figure who advocated for the equal rights of everyone, including animals:
“If we are 2 honor Dr. King today, we must continue 2 seek justice for EVERYONE who is disadvantaged” #NeverBeSilent http://t.co/2C6630zzyQ
— PETA (@peta) January 20, 2014
I believe the people behind PETA’s social media truly are obtuse because they have no clue about what King was really fighting for — either because they don’t know what conditions were like for Blacks in America a mere 60 years ago, or they don’t want to accept what the reality was. And PETA is no different than the average man or woman who believes that MLK is a cuddly and friendly figure of non-violent protest and racial harmony. Now, he definitely believed in social unity, but let’s get something clear right now, King’s importance as a man can best be summarized in this sentence I recently read in an essay: He ended the terror of living as a Black person, especially in the south.
To act as if King was simply challenging employment prejudice, lack of voting rights, and Black-only water fountains is to pleasantly whitewash the terror of what being Black in America truly was — and some may argue, still is today, just in other forms like the prison industrial complex. While Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott may have made King a popular figure, it was helping Black people overcome being publicly assaulted, maimed, tortured, lynched, and killed that sprung King into action. While Parks got dragged off that bus on December 1, 1955, it was just three months earlier that racists kidnapped Emmett Till from his home and crushed his skull after hours of torture, for allegedly flirting with a white woman.
It’s cute to believe that MLK was fighting to make white children and Black children eventually see each other as equals without noticing the melanin (or lack thereof) in each other’s skin. But, once again, that is bastardizing who King is and what he was really up against. We’re not talking about racial profiling — we’re talking about LYNCHING. We’re not talking about your résumé being thrown in the trash because of your “Black-sounding” first name or your zip code — we’re talking about Blacks being thrown in jail for crimes they didn’t commit as a result of trials that were nothing more than a travesty of justice. This is the MLK that we need to see a movie about. This is the story that needs to be in a Martin Luther King, Jr. biopic.
Until modern America decides to fully recognize the abject TERROR that African Americans faced at the hands of white people just 50 to 60 years ago, save your stories about King’s alleged affairs. How the hell can you accurately deviate from the standard depiction of Martin Luther King, Jr. when the standard depiction is a bastardization of who he really was?
LAB
Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.