King: A Life

King: A Life by Jonathan Eig is new work on Martin Luther King, Jr. There is certainly so much that is familiar, but thousands of pages of recently released documents plus interviews with neighborhood friends, church goers in King’s day, and more added new depth to King’s life.

Eig had said that he ended his book in a way to have the reader crying. He didn’t want to end it with conspiracy theories. He wanted to build the dimensions of King in a way that when we get to the inevitable end, the read would miss King.

Mission accomplished.

I was listening on audio and trying to keep the tears in check while I was driving. It is deeply moving.

Every segment of our society today uses King to their own ends. White nationalists can quote the King they like as easily as progressives can quote the King they like. What Eig strives for is the broader picture so we understand King’s deep faith as a driving force, along with his voice that moved from conservative and capitalist to progressive and radical. His faith drove him the entire time, so we should deal with it as we read it.

Eig also makes it clear that MLK wasn’t the obsession of J Edgar Hoover alone. King was targeted by agencies, by the president, by lawmakers, by the media, and more.

The weariness I also felt was how power works and deep truths we cannot avoid as a culture. No matter how we slice it, our DNA is violence. King deeply believed in nonviolence, but in the end, Malcolm X, King, and RFK (not to mention JFK) were all assassinated. But it wasn’t just whites. Black movements took up arms and were willing to return violence for violence. Our national DNA is embedded with violence.

Another truth is power that maintains control plays a LONG game. King had wins with the Montgomery Bus Boycott and civil rights legislation in Congress. Whites engaged in a war of attrition that tarnished his image publicly at a minimum, and harassed him with violence, jail, wire taps, and more to the point that by 1967 King was publicly maligned.

Southern whites were consistent in their disdain for King. Northern whites like King… at a distance. Then, he came to NYC, Chicago, and LA and interrupted their hidden racism. They turned on him as well over time.

It is the still the game being played today. Back then, King went from well-dressed hero to “Communist” agitator because he dared to speak out against the Vietnam war. Today, that game was played after the summer of 2020. We didn’t use the “N” word and “communist” didn’t work as well. So “woke” and “CRT” became the substitutes and by 2021, we were inventing legislation to “ban” fake problems.

It doesn’t end.

We are in deep trouble as a society and it keeps getting ignored because those in power are comfortable and can afford the long game.

This book is deeply moving. I learned of King’s mental health issues, more about the depth of his faith, more about his struggles with infidelity, and more about his struggles near the end to gain new footing and lead a broader campaign on poverty.

We need the full picture of King, not the bits we just like so we can put up our standard memes once a year. Eig’s work accomplishes a fresh look we need.