Joshlyn’s Reviews > One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This > Status Update

The myth of the messiah leader often oversimplifies complex struggles born out of decades of sacrifice, suffering, and collective resistance. Traditionally, most communities have looked to prophetic figures to guide them. And stories across cultures often revolve around a lone hero running through fire to save the village. But it becomes strange, even dangerous, when that model is turned on real-life social movements. Think of the civil rights movement, name one thing other than buses, boycotts, and water fountains? Quick!

Why is it that when we think of the major social movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, we usually remember only one person holding the torch? Why do we push for a single spokesperson? Psychology, sigh. Lets get someone on that question! Elevating a single figure reduces movements to symbols, often stripping away the broader grassroots labor that sustained them. And diminishing the real issues they fought to address.

Although King was Black, his work was not Black Nationalist in nature….it was anti-imperialist, workers' and civil rights, along with racial justice. So why is he remembered as a Black leader? I mean, we know why but its something to think about. It gets even more insidious when you think about the erasure of anti-capitalism and anti-militarism from the King ethos. Why were the legislations of '64, '65, and '68 important? Why was it not enough? People lets get to it!

Not to make light of major social reform victories, but many of those movements eventually fade, surviving only as recycled symbols of democratic resistance for the next wave of struggle. And the idea that marginalized communities have to “produce” a King-like figure is such a wild thing. Black people don’t even have an MLK today lol. Maybe it's a sign of the times. The time for hero worship is over. I think we will be better for it. Decentralize.