Losing Grip of the Legacy
In Real Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Somewhere
Some place
Some men are gathered together
In some secret board room
Sipping soy lattes and other caffeinated drinks
Brewing over one of the most diabolical schemes
Of our very own age and time
And for the ages to come.
They plan on making a more marketable Martin.
They plan on making a more appealing Martin.
They plan on making a more consumer friendly Martin.
They want to do away with Martin
Who organized the Poor People’s March.
They want to do away with Martin
Who wrote Why We Can’t Wait.
They want to do away with Martin
Who spoke for nonviolence
But who spoke against injustice.
These men will take the March on Washington
And make more appealing to Madison Avenue.
These men will take “I Have a Dream”
And make commercials for the NRA, Tea Party
And whoever else can pay for pricey Super Bowl ads.
These men will take the Birmingham Bus Boycott
And use it for curriculum for peaceful demonstrations
To cut down on Occupy, PUSH and any other coalition for change.
These men will use Martin’s words.
These men will use Martin’s image.
These men will use Martin’s likeness.
These men will use Martin’s reputation.
These men will use Martin’s legacy.
These men will use Martin.
They will do it to make monuments.
They will do it to make statues.
They will do it to make commercial ads.
They will do it to make made for TV dramas.
They will do it to make independent films on multiculturalism.
They will do it to make money.
This will be a New Age Martin.
He will be a Martin of YouTube.
He will be a retweeted Martin.
He will be a pinned and posted Martin.
His airbrushed image will grace profile pics.
His editorialized words will become status updates on patriotic holidays.
He will be something new and improved.
He will be something worthy of every advertising dollar invested in him.
Yet, He will be nothing like
The minister who led direct action in the South.
He will be nothing like
The man who sacrificed family and congregation to make a difference.
He will be nothing like
The martyr who died by an assassin’s bullet.
He will be an entirely different Martin.
We will only know him as MLK.
Few will recognize what has become of Martin Luther King.
We will only do service projects in his memory.
We will only volunteer in his memory.
We will only plant trees in his memory.
But we won’t change a damn thing in his memory.
We will swallow it down as they shove it down our throats.
We will take it in as they squeeze segments of his life
Somewhere between reruns of “Amos and Andy”
Or right after footage of an unbiased jury finding another person
Judged by the color of their skin
And not the content of their character
With more film to come at eleven.
It sickens me.
It saddens me.
But I am only left with one question.
Who will be next?
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