I was checking out The View from the Basement, a blog that has rather mysteriously been nominated for a “best new blog” Koufax. (The Koufaxes are for lefty blogs – View From the Basement is a centrist blog, not clearly left nor right). Unlike the Head Heeb, I wasn’t very impressed; the blogger seems to be one of those boring “anyone who criticizes Israel is an anti-Semite” folks.
Anyhow, the reason I’m posting this is the following quote, which adorns the top of her blog:
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
The problem is that the quote is a fake, as Tim Wise has documented.
“I say, let the truth ring forth from the high mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God’s green earth: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews–this is God’s own truth.” The letter also was filled with grammatical errors that any halfway literate reader of King’s work should have known disqualified him from being its author, to wit: “Anti-Zionist is inherently anti Semitic, and ever will be so.” The treatise, it is claimed, was published on page 76 of the August, 1967 edition of Saturday Review, and supposedly can also be read in the collection of King’s work entitled, This I Believe: Selections from the Writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That the claimants never mention the publisher of this collection should have been a clear tip-off that it might not be genuine, and indeed it isn’t. The book doesn’t exist. As for Saturday Review, there were four issues in August of 1967. Two of the four editions contained a page 76. One of the pages 76 contains classified ads and the other contained a review of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album. No King letter anywhere.
Yet its lack of authenticity hasn’t prevented it from having a long shelf-life. Not only does it pop up in the Schneier book, but sections of it were read by the Anti-Defamation League’s Michael Salberg in testimony before a House Subcommittee in July of 2001, and all manner of pro-Israel groups (from traditional Zionists to right-wing Likudites, to Christians who support ingathering Jews to Israel so as to prompt Jesus’ return), have used the piece on their websites.
The quote does indeed pop up a lot; don’t be fooled.
And hey, while you’re reading Wise on MLK, check out his essay rebutting right-wingers who misuse MLK by claiming King opposed Affirmative Action..
Actually, Wise is wrong. The letter is a hoax, but the quote is not. (Here’s a brief CAMERA article on the controversy.) MLK’s Harvard speech predates that quote’s purported source by three decades!
Please amend your post, Amp, it’s inaccurate.
On the other point, MLK said “A society that has done something special against he Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for the Negro”, among other quotes indicating support for the principles underlying Affirmative Action.
First of all, according to all sources – including the ones you link to – the quote as given on The View from the Basement is a hoax. He never said those words, and never wrote them. My post is perfectly accurate.
Second of all, Wise’s essay (did you read it?) discusses the other, completely different quote you refer to at some length.
I don’t agree with all her politics, but I think she has some interesting things to say.
Jonathan:
Whose politics?
Amp:
I stand corrected.
Joe,
Jonathon’s comment makes more sense if you realize that he is the author of the excellent blog The Head Heeb.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I suppose Joe was asking who the “she” behind “her politics” is.
Jonathan meant The View from the Basement‘s author, Tamar Ron (her “About” page).
Besides, what we forget is even if MLK said this, it doesn’t mean he was necessarily right. He was a great man, but still human so everything out of his mouth doesn’t need to be taken as true without any thought or skepticism.
I’m reminded of the “objectively pro-fascist” line by George Orwell, which he later regretted writing.
Yes, thanks Jimmy! :)
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