Dr. Paco Hinton Jr.

As revolutionary and impactful as King was, Black people that rely solely on his words are shortsighted. Many of us know King was not perfect, and I want to clarify that evaluating King’s character is not the point of this writing. The fact Is that King’s teachings are limited. King was a minister and a theologian. He could educate you on the word of God and help tackle issues centered on race from the Christian point of view. From his teachings, he had a dream. Unfortunately, some people took his dream literally. King did not have a dream as he slept; he more so had a fantasy or vision of what the world could be. In reality, King’s dream was no more realistic than a child who dreams he will grow wings and fly one day. King’s dream, which in reality, turned out to be a nightmare, was not much of a dream at all.

Everything King described was something that could only be seen in heaven, never on earth. Looking back, it is clear, King’s dream was more like a fantasy that was full of blind spots. King’s most prominent blind spot was one that most ministers struggle with, understanding the psychology of an individual. King’s fantasy placed great emphasis on Blacks making it to a promised land where Whites and Blacks would live in peace and harmony. King’s dream focused little on the psychological toll making it to the alleged promised land” would take on the Blacks pursuing said promised land. King wanted Blacks and Whites to believe that we need each other, and somehow, someway Blacks and Whites need to find a way to integrate.

Time has shown that Blacks and Whites have different interpretations of King’s words. Whites who are not in denial of racial inequality look at the nation as a whole as having work to do. Blacks who hear King’s words believe that acceptance by Whites is possible. King’s words were sharp, but his strategies to achieve equality did not do enough to make it crystal clear that racial inequality is a White problem. From the most distinguished Black down to the most deplorable Negro, no Black person from the past or in the present plays a role in the sustenance of White supremacy. To suggest anything to the contrary is the pictorial representation of victim-blaming. Whether strategically or ignorantly, any time a White and sadly a Black person begins a sentence with “if Blacks just did XYZ,” they have missed the plot. King’s dream leaves Blacks under the impression that Blacks have a part to play in the dissolution of racism instead of it being Whites who have some soul searching to do. Specifically, soul searching that is to be completed on their own time with the God they claim to serve. 

I want to be clear that I do not fault King for his approach. The unfiltered truth would have been too much to bear for most Whites in the ’60s because many still cannot handle it now. My beliefs differ because I believe that King encouraged Blacks to believe in their oppressors rather intentionally or unintentionally. He taught Blacks that there was a mountaintop and we just needed to get to the other side, and White people would be willing to help. He took biblical promises that God made to his people that they were not meant to inherit until the afterlife. King encouraged Blacks to believe that the constitution was meant to include us, which could not be further from the truth. Worst of all, King proposed integration as an ideal goal for Blacks and Whites unalike. King proposing integration reflected his own psychological conditioning resulting from growing up in the segregated south. Looking back and knowing what we now know about the human psyche, recommending that an oppressed group integrates with its oppressor is a recipe for disaster. That would be like telling a victim of domestic violence to give their relationship another try.

Integration would have worked if Black and Whites were on an even playing field. Here we are over 60 years later, and Blacks are still not close to being on an even playing field with Whites. The point is, Whites made it blatantly clear they were not interested in integrating with Blacks. All progress to this point has been forced, which questions if there ever was any progress. Integrating Blacks into White institutions serves no benefit if we would have to endure psychological warfare post entry. Watching the video of the Arkansas Nine entering the school surrounded by the angry Mob of White folks is disappointing. However, what is more disappointing is that Black people thought that was progress. In response to integrating Black kids into White schools, many Whites took their kids out. They enrolled them into private schools, which sent the message that Blacks were the problem. When Blacks filled the cities, many Whites moved to the suburbs.

If it is not clear by now, Blacks should have never been fighting for acceptance but instead for equal access. Not equal access to White environments but equal access to the necessary resources to create our own neighborhoods, hospitals, banks, grocery stores, schools, etc. Integration under the circumstances in the ’60s severely damaged the psyche of Blacks and the generations that followed. Integration did not create opportunities for Blacks in the way King and his followers had presumed. Looking around in 2021, one sees more carnage than success in the Black community. It is okay to love King, but it is also okay to admit that he got it wrong. His dream became a nightmare for Black people. His dream soled false hope to Black people that we all could be viewed as equal one day, and we should continue to work on this merger with White people.

King got it wrong, and the people in Tulsa, Oklahoma, had it right. Blacks needed and still need independence. This does not mean that Blacks do not do business or interact with Whites. It simply means that Black success is no longer dependent upon a White person or White entity giving them a shot. Blacks need to reach a place of financial and psychological independence. As long as Black boys and girls continue to attend White schools, they will never think and function outside of a White context. The fight has to go beyond identifying racism and calling for change. The system was not designed to change and has been put in place to help one group get ahead at the expense of another. 

I know many people will point out that Black Wall Street was burned to the ground, which is true. However, just as the people who live in the dry forest rebuild their homes after each fire, so should we. Maybe Tulsa was not the right place. Perhaps, another city would have worked better. The Tulsa massacre happened too long ago for Blacks to not have tried to rebuild again, again and again. There is no denying that the road to financial and psychological freedom will be arduous. Hurdles will be at every corner. However, when you look at where we are now, you quickly realize that we are nowhere. For those who will contest my writing on the grounds that Blacks are not dependent on Whites for approval and to prosper, look at the current trends. Blacks and Whites are locked in a dead heat over telling a more accurate depiction of American history instead of the traditional whitewashed history that depicts Whites as heroines and nearly everyone else as savages that needed to be civilized.

Even if a more accurate history was to be taught, it still would not suffice. Let us, for a moment, ignore what would be in the lesson plan and just focus on the optics. Blacks are arguing for the right to entrust White teachers to teach children about Black people. If the roles were reversed, would White people entrust Black people to teach White children about a sensitive topic to White people that must be taught intricately to effectively counter the lies they had previously been taught? It is never as simple as completing a task. Reasonable consideration should always be given to how an individual completes the task in question. I have no faith in Black history being taught by the descendants of the people who benefit from the Black suffrage to be discussed.

Before closing, I want to make a few things clear for the individuals who believe more in their oppressors than they do themselves. I do not hate White people, nor do I have a vendetta against them. My focus has always been and will continue to be the liberation and independence of Black people. Whether fully conscious or completely unaware, any Black person who opposes Blacks doing what Whites have done for centuries in establishing their own entities may as well bleach their skin so that their outside can match who they are on the inside, a trans-Caucasian. We do not need you, nor do we want you standing in the way of our movement. To conclude, any White or Black person who opposes Black liberation and independence is a threat to all Black people fighting for these goals.