It isn’t often that Martin Luther King Jr. is described as a revolutionary rather than a reformist.
“We have orchestrated a fraud with our representation of his greatness,” said Michael D. Blackwell, director of the Center of Multicultural Education. “We have selected aspects of his life deemed sellable to the citizenry and consequently we have softened his persona.”
Blackwell’s presentation, “The Real Martin Luther King Jr.: Reformist or Revolutionary?”, was well received by an audience of approximately 40 people in the CME. It followed a march to the Campanile and a short program commemorating King’s march on Washington in 1963.

Blackwell’s passion about the subject was easy to see as he projected his voice with power and confidence and was met with many nodding heads and yells of acknowledgement.

“If you truly examine the sermons and speeches of Doctor King, you’ll see at the very least a budding revolutionary,” said Blackwell. “One who finally did not have to constrain himself after he broke off with the Johnson administration. He was tired of giving in to the benefit of the doubt and argued for a more direct civil disobedient approach to the struggle for human rights.”
Leading off his presentation was a short clip of King on the Mike Douglas show, an American daytime talk show. During the show, a calm and poised King was badgered by questions and comments on his alleged communist ties.

“A lot of people aren’t used to seeing him in that way,” said Blackwell. “He’s usually very animated. See him calmly respond to question that we all know were ignorant.”
Blackwell followed the clip with a reading from his work on King, during which he sought to differentiate between King the reformer and King the revolutionary.

“A reformist is one who seeks changes to the status quo so that it’s easier to accommodate or assimilate to the system. The revolutionary, however, pursues a tearing down of the structure, processes, policies and services that are inherently oppressive, and to create a new system or none at all.”
The presentation was followed by a spirited discussion.

“It was very interesting,” said Joseph Simmons. “In public schools we sort of get this received notion of what King was all about, and he’s sort of portrayed as a reformer. But really, his ideas were radically contrary to the sort of fundamental ideology that underlines America.”
Several members of the audience were so intrigued by Blackwell’s material that they stayed in the CME for an extended conversation among themselves and Blackwell.

“This is an important discussion to have, certainly to place him in a historical context of American revolutionaries,” said Simmons. “I think Blackwell had a very eloquent presentation;ww I appreciate his passion for the subject. He did a very good job of presenting the truly revolutionary aspects of King.”