Coming up on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream Speech," what can one expect from National Review Online -- except for them to complain about "something a bit nastier" -- a quote allegedly from Martin Luther King Jr.
Yes, I happened to be reading the National Review Online this morning (I have it bookmarked next to The Onion), and caught their review of the movie "The Butler."
Naturally, writer Will Allen trashed it for its harsh portrayal of Jim Crow and slavery. Most of his criticism was on grounds of historical accuracy.
So when I came upon his alleged quote from Martin Luther King Jr. I was a bit taken aback ...
I don't want to post a link to National Review Online for obvious reasons. I do not want to be responsible for any contamination that may result on anyone's computer screen, or any projectile vomit damage that may be induced upon readers.
However, National Review movie reviewer Will "Wrong Way" Allen stated:
It is almost refreshing when the narrative occasionally swerves from bromidic NPR progressivism into something a bit nastier — as when Martin Luther King Jr. explains that he opposes the Vietnam War because “the Viet Cong don’t call us n***s,” …
Except the National Review spelled the word out.
Of course this alleged MLK quote, this "something a bit nastier," was not made by Martin Luther King Jr. It (or something like it) was reported to have been made by Muhammad Ali. (By the way IMHO Muhammad Ali had a good point if in fact he said it.)
The ironic part (yet oh so predictable) is that this is all part of the National Review Online's takedown of the movie --
on grounds of historical inaccuracy. Yup.
The piece decries the movie's harsh portrayal of life for blacks in the Jim Crow South and under slavery.
It wasn't all that bad, the National Review insists.
The National Review has not changed much. Reading what William F. Buckley wrote in the late 1950s and 1960s is sickening. Downright white supremacist.