Thursday, April 10, 2008

Michael Eric Dyson



Michael Eric Dyson
Among the many points Dyson covered in his reflection on Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy, a few pithy aphorisms stood out that I paraphrase here:



  • King is often reduced to thirty-four words [of the "I Have a Dream" speech] written when he was thirty-four years old
  • our society is intolerant of complexity and allergic to nuance
  • justice is what love sounds like when it speaks in public
  • nationalists are people who can't make a distinction between love and their country"
  • prophecy is not about gazing into the future but bringing visions into existence