PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2020-01-20 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Did MLK Say This About Capitalism? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • One of the many topics that civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. often touched upon in his public statements and private letters was his viewpoint that the impoverished in America were being poorly served by capitalism, and that the resources needed to ameliorate poverty were abundantly available but inequitably distributed. The following quotations are but a few examples of King's statements on the topic: One quote meme circulated via social media attributes the following similar statement to King: Although this quotation is congruent with other documented expressions by King on the subject of capitalism, it is not found in any of his writings, nor in any transcripts of his speeches or public statements. This quotation originated with a reminiscence published in My Song, the 2011 memoir of singer/actor Harry Belafonte. In that memoir, Belafonte — who had first met King in 1956 — described his last meeting with the civil rights leader, which took place at Belafonte's apartment in New York on March 27, 1968, just a week before King was assassinated in Memphis: During that after-party talk, Belafonte wrote, the following conversation took place: We find little reason to doubt the substance of this quotation, as Belafonte was undeniably a friend and associate of King's, he related the circumstances surrounding the conversation with King in a detailed, first-person account, and the words he quoted are consistent with thoughts King expressed on many other occasions. However ... human memory is a fragile thing, and we have to consider how accurately Belafonte (the sole source for this quote) might have reproduced King's words when relating them in his memoir more than 40 years later -- especially given that by Belafonte's own admission, news reporters and others who might have taken note of King's words that evening had departed before King made the statement in question. Does this passage describe a reconstruction of events made from personal memory long after the fact, or was the event documented at the time it occurred in some other form? We've sent an inquiry to Belafonte's co-author, Michael Shnayerson, to see if he can shed any light on the nature of this recounting and will update this page accordingly if additional information becomes available. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url