The Struggle for the People’s King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement

by Hajar Yazdiha

How the misuses of Martin Luther King’s legacy divide us and undermine democracy

In the post–civil rights era, wide-ranging groups have made civil rights claims that echo those made by Black civil rights activists of the 1960s, from people with disabilities to women’s rights activists and LGBTQ coalitions. Increasingly since the 1980s, white, right-wing social movements, from family values coalitions to the alt-right, now claim the collective memory of civil rights to portray themselves as the newly oppressed minorities. The Struggle for the People’s King reveals how, as these powerful groups remake collective memory toward competing political ends, they generate offshoots of remembrance that distort history and threaten the very foundations of multicultural democracy.

In the revisionist memories of white conservatives, gun rights activists are the new Rosa Parks, antiabortion activists are freedom riders, and antigay groups are the defenders of Martin Luther King’s Christian vision. Drawing on a wealth of evidence ranging from newspaper articles and organizational documents to television transcripts, press releases, and focus groups, Hajar Yazdiha documents the consequential reimagining of the civil rights movement in American political culture from 1980 to today. She shows how the public memory of King and civil rights has transformed into a vacated, sanitized collective memory that evades social reality and perpetuates racial inequality.

Powerful and persuasive, The Struggle for the People’s King demonstrates that these oppositional uses of memory fracture our collective understanding of who we are, how we got here, and where we go next.

Genres: History, Politics, Race, Nonfiction, Social Justice

286 pages, Hardcover

Published May 30, 2023

Reviews

[Filza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to this book interested in understanding more about political polarization and was really surprised and pleased to learn so much more about how culture and politics work together to divide Americans. I knew Dr. King’s legacy was more complex than we usually learn but this book really showed me how politicians distort his memory to advance causes he would be opposed to. I’m recommending this book to all my colleagues.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it for my social movement class, actually pretty good Ngl 😗

[Jessica Orrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Read for SOCY4931*
I definitely had some problems with this book... It was a fine examination of social movements overall and an interesting journalistic account, but I don't think it did much to add to the field. Basically the whole thesis is that social movements utilize memories of past social movements to construct their identities and prove their legitimacy, sometimes interpreting history and the past. I don't think that's super novel.

My major problems with this book: I found it to be incredibly politically charged, and basically the whole book equates the leftists interpretation of memory as correct and the right-leaning interpretation of memory as incorrect, immoral, of just plain wrong. Sure, there is truth to the fact that a lot of republicans misrepresent Dr. King and the civil rights movement for their gains, but so does the left and I think this book has an unfair glorification of liberal politics. Additionally, the terms "republican," "far right," "radical right," and "right" are used seemingly interchangeably and synonymously... bye.

I also had major problems with the chapter on immigration. Besides it pushing a political ideology that makes no sense to me, it seemingly equates "white" immigrants with legal immigrants and "nonwhite" immigrants with undocumented immigrants. "Non-white" and "undocumented" seem to be used interchangeably. Although it is true that non-white immigrants face more barriers in becoming citizens, I find this to be a gross oversimplification and error on the author's part that seems to succumb to the type of racism this book attempts to overcome.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-intended and well researched to provide an accurate but incomplete view of the history behind the Civil Rights Movement that she writes about.

Author is accurate that politics (conservatives to liberals) are trying to shape the optics/imagery/legacy/direction of past civil right leaders and movements that happened 40+ years ago.

Confident that this author will incorporate the countless civil rights movements (with its many struggles, defeats, victories, historic landmark legal cases, leaders, protests, etc.) that served and probably even provided the opportunities for Black Civic Rights leaders such as MLK to be heard.

Grateful and Thankful that other historic books on the complete history of civil right movements throughout American history exist and provide the proper foundation until this author's next book - with the assumption that a thorough and objective analysis of America's civil rights movements is her agenda.

Given the current ongoing battle in Congress of having our books for our children include the complete history of our country, inclusive of civil rights movements (given the focus on immigration), all books documenting content not normally found in school books is a very good thing

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard the author of this book interviewed on the NPR Code Switch podcast and thought it sounded like a really interesting book. Unfortunately, I don't think I really got much more out of the book than I did listening to what she said on the podcast episode. It's a very academic book written from a sociological perspective, so there is a lot of sociological theory written about in the book that I wasn't that interested in. I was mostly interested in the higher level thesis, which is basically what I had already gotten from her interview. Unless you're doing academic research, I'd recommend just hunting down the podcast episode instead of reading the book.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Struggle for the People’s King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement (Hardcover)
by Hajar Yazdiha


see p 39 graph on collective memory , see footnote 15 Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s by Omi and Winant

[Jeffery James · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read that's a mix of history and pretty dense political science. I learned a lot about social movements from 1980 to the present. However, this is a work they will have little appeal for folks outside of academia and education.

[Sebastian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful view into how right and left ideologies co-opt MLK's original message and how this affects that message.

[Waris Ahmad Faizi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for anyone interested in sociological perspectives on social movements!