In elementary school, the general gist of black history is that Martin is the one you should love and Malcolm is the one you should stay away from. As black people go to college, out of intellectual rebellion the roles reverse; Malcolm is who you should love, and Martin is who you should loathe. Because, to put it in a few words (which is what black history usually is anyway for folks) Malcolm is a rebel, and Martin is passive, gentle, and even submissive.

Martin asked for permission for equal rights. Martin wanted to show white people why they should love black people. Martin was in favor of the American social order, he didn’t want to disrupt it, and he just wanted us to be a part of it.

None of this is true, from the childhood perspective to the college perspective.

For all of Martin Luther King’s “submissiveness” to the system, he was arrested 33 times. Several of those times it took a call from the United States Attorney General to get him released. These arrests weren’t just for show without the possibility of severe consequences. In many instances, before the higher-ups intervened he was days from serving time in work camps, most notably, Parchment in Mississippi. You can say what you want, but jail is real. And the thought of not being able to get out is also very, very real. Just watch First 48; people snitch on their own brothers in order to avoid prison—Martin went to jail THIRTY-THREE times for negroes he didn’t even know.

Martin was a rebel. Martin was THE rebel. The proof is the fact that he already had everything that most Black Americans were fighting for. He had a top education, family wealth, material wealth, and an insulated experience from the harshness of white racism. Martin grew up on Auburn Avenue, a place where in the Jim Crow South you didn’t have to ask a white person for anything. He was the rare Black American Dream. He took everything that America allowed him to have, things that would ensure him a long and prosperous life, and used those weapons against the system.

He took his access to Eastern philosophy and theology, and created the nonviolent way of thinking. Why? Because he knew, just like deep down in your hearts YOU know, that despite what you “wish somebody wooooould say/do”…we ain’t fighting. So, the only way to mobilize any demographic of black people, of the oppressed—is to organize civil disruption without being violent. It’s the easiest way to unify and allows everybody to play a part. It’s the most effective way to utilize mass population. It had nothing to do with being soft; he was being realistic.

He was able to understand socioeconomics and the importance of Black buying power on the economy. The Montgomery Bus Boycott worked not because Rosa Parks sat down, but because black Montgomery boycotted any and all businesses that wouldn’t support their efforts. Black folks have been wasting money for years—America is built on black labor and black spending. We work 79 hours a week just to go buy something. Martin understood that, and organized a movement that would put a chokehold on the local economy until they got what they wanted.

He used his training as a reverend to speak to, enthuse and educate the masses. These are the speeches that we only listen to excerpts from, purposely. Why? If you listened to Martin’s speeches in their entirety, even the “I Have A Dream” speech, they are demanding, almost militant, with him calling out America in front of the world (as we were in the age of the media boom) for their lack of accountability. America’s biggest cover-up has always been its hypocrisy and like Malcolm, Martin called it out at almost every turn. But again, you have to actually read HIS entire works—not summaries or pieces of them.

There is much more to Martin than what makes the history books or the barbershop talk about Militancy. He wasn’t as outwardly angry as Malcolm—but the Ku Klux Klan killed Malcolm’s father, his family was broken up by the state, AND he spent 7 years in prison! That’s a recipe for anger; anger that might take years and a trip to a holy place like Mecca to finally let go of. Taking nothing away from El Hajj Malik El Shabazz but it can be said that being a convicted felon, he needed the Nation of Islam early on for life and support just as much as they wanted him. Brother Malcolm was a rebel indeed. But Martin, who had none of this trauma growing up, could have idly stood by and allowed others to solve their own personal problems. Martin, who could not empathize but only sympathize to the plague that is the Black ghetto, was to me the ultimate sign of rebellion. For in a country that is rooted in selfishness and hoarding of personal ego he forsook it all because he believed that an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere. So give him some props, cut him some slack and ask yourself this: Would you die for black America?

P.S. Stop putting his image on party fliers. Seriously, Bruh. What the hell is wrong with you?