I May Not Get There with You: The
True Martin Luther King, Jr by
Michael Eric Dyson
Fascinating
Provocative preacher-teacher Michael Eric Dyson, known for his hip-hop-
style delivery and encyclopedic intellectual powers, heroically tries to
update and examine the true legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. for a glib
Generation-X world. Calling I May Not Get There with You a work of
biocriticism, Dyson peels away the superficial image of King the man to
reveal a complex human being whose work was far from finished or totally
understood. In the last thirty years we have trapped King in romantic
images or frozen his legacy in worship, he writes. I seek to rescue King
from his admirers and deliver him from his foes. To that end, Dyson takes
aim at neoconservatives like Shelby Steele, who spin Kings multiracial
dreams into a right-wing call to end affirmative action, and goes after black
militants who thought King was soft and overlooked the power of his black
radical Christianity. He also criticizes the governments co-opting of Kings
philosophy in a holiday, as well as what he calls the King familys well-

meaning, but destructive, attempts to protect Kings legacy. Dyson forces
us to accept King for all of his faults--including plagiarism and
womanizing--but more importantly allows us to see a real human being
who rose to the height of humanity. --Eugene Holley, Jr.
Personal Review: I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin
Luther King, Jr by Michael Eric Dyson
I find it very refreshing when a product of multiculturalism throws a wrench
in the system and violently turns against his masters. In this provocative
(though unsurprisingly silenced) work of pop scholarship college diversity
program poster-child and hip hop "expert" Eric Dyson sets to work on
deconstructing the white-washed image of Martin Luther King, Jr. that the
American left has successfully promoted without opposition for the past
four decades.
But wait a minute, Martin Luther King Jr. was an American patriot,
someone who was deeply devoted to the ideals of its Founding Fathers
and simply wanted to tinker with a few of the more archaic aspects of
American society (Jim Crow) so that everyone could at least have a fair
shot at the American Dream. I must admit that up until a few months ago I
was captured (more like poisoned) by this ridiculous myth, probably more
so than most even. The story of King's life seemed so inspiring, who
wouldn't want to believe in it?
Turns out pretty much everything taught about MLK in public schools are
at best half truths and all of the most hideous aspects of his life go
completely unmentioned. As Dyson tells us, the truly radical aspects of
King's ideology - such as his close association with the American
Communist Party - are silenced specifically to keep African Americans in
check. Undoubtedly, but these facts are suppressed specifically to keep
suspicious whites in a state of unthinking, unquestioning silence as much
as anyone else. Dyson didn't have to dig very much to uncover this
information, even King's closest associates and biggest financial backers
were Communists.
Dyson also quotes some of King's most damaging speeches and
interviews on economics that leave little doubt about what King's larger
social and economic objectives actually were. "Oh, gee willickers!," the
multiculturalist will scream, tearing the hair from his head, "You've got it all
wrong - King only promoted the positive aspects of Communism." Well
that all depends on just what you think the "positive" aspects of
Communism really are. Let's see, King patently endorsed the
redistribution of wealth, destruction of the military, labor's seizure of private
business, abolition of private property...oh but don't worry, no Gulags!
Predictably the trail of putrid scandal doesn't end there. In what has
become a recurring theme amongst American leftists King possessed a
voracious and positively uncontrollable appetite for cheap prostitutes. The
point in mentioning this type of degenerate behavior at all is so Dyson can

tie King's participation in the Civil Rights movement to the anti-objectivity
counter-revolution that occurred subsequently thereafter. Here as well
King was quite an active critic of the military (not JUST Vietnam), did
interviews with pornographic magazines, generally did everything in his
power to undermine sensible restraints wherever they existed, and
ensured that a whole generation was indoctrinated into loving themselves
and living for themselves only. Most important in all of these activities by
King were the rumblings of what would later become known as "Affirmative
Action."
Dyson of course supports this development unconditionally and who could
blame him, he is where he is precisely because King and his predecessors
(backed by the Federal Government) were able to intimidate employers,
agencies, and universities into adopting certain "hiring policies" favorable
to African Americans. Noticably missing however in this book is
elaboration on King's despicable intellectual dishonesty and theft (60% of
his doctoral thesis at Boston University was stolen from another student) of
other people's work throughout the entirety of his career.
The story of "Dr." King is not an entirely uncommon one for political figures
and needless to say his story is hardly inspiring. Indeed, it's typical even
for the most violent political leaders to take a relatively egalitarian
approach in the beginning, only to shed this facade once they start
gathering steam in favor of uncompromising authoritarianism. Vladimir
Lenin was an outspoken critic of the Czar and railed against the regime for
its suppression of political speech, exploitation of the working class, and
persecution of ethnic and religious minorities. Well, we all know how that
turned out. I seriously doubt that Martin Luther King, Jr. was any different.
Just as another reviewer pointed out, if he were alive today I'm sure he'd
be right there with Al Sharpton and Jesse falsely accusing random college
students of rape, petitioning to get O.J. Simpson reduced bail, and doing
anything he possibly could to exacerbate whatever racial tensions still exist
in this country.
Why Dyson thinks this new version of King is great for black folks is
anyone's guess, frankly I don't care. I'm just glad I don't have to listen to
this hippy nonsense anymore and for that I am thankful.
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