With the release of Time Magazine’s incendiary cover, commemorating Donald Trump’s hair and pants on fire first year in office, likely to get a great deal of attention, I’d like to highlight another provocative magazine cover that, with all that is going on now, may get overlooked.
First indulge me a little back story. A childhood friend of mine grew up and moved away to become a professional photographer. After forty years we were able to reconnect through Facebook. She currently lives in San Francisco with her husband, Mark Ulriksen, a freelance artist and illustrator for The New Yorker. I had the pleasure of meeting her family, a year ago or so, and her husband even gave me a private tour of his studio.
Yesterday a Facebook post by Dan Rather caught my eye, because it featured the latest cover of The New Yorker. I recognized the work as Mark’s right away. The image depicts the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, arms locked with kneeling NFL players, Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennet. The date on the cover, of course, is January 15, Martin Luther King Day. Mark gave a brief interview for the cover story.
“I asked myself, What would King be doing if he were around today?” the San Francisco-based artist Mark Ulriksen says, about the civil-rights leader, the inspiration for this week’s cover. (The cover’s title draws from Martin Luther King, Jr.,’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, in which he spoke of a “creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice.”) “This is 49er country, and my mom and I have been going back and forth—she’s upset that players have brought politics into sports, but I say, How would you feel if you had to show up at work every day and salute a country that treats black people like second-class citizens? I’m glad that Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett are making it political.”
Veteran journalist, Dan Rather, was inspired to post this statement on his Facebook page.
When I saw the cover of this week's The New Yorker I took a deep breath. It shows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. kneeling, arms locked, alongside two NFL players, Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett. Provocative? Yes. In keeping with the Dr. King I met and covered as a reporter? There is little doubt in my mind.
In WHAT UNITES US, I wrote, "We have a long history in the United States of marginalized voices eventually convincing majorities through the strength of their ideas. Our democratic machinery provides fertile soil where seeds of change can grow. Few knew that better than King."
I think it is highly likely that Dr. King would have seen these NFL protests as a patriotic act. He understood that principled dissent was part of #WhatUnitesUs.
Rather’s post is fairly long, and I recommend you go to his page and read it in its entirety. He closes with this important distinction between patriotism and nationalism, a distinction, like climate and weather, that is regrettably lost on Trump and his base.
“It is important not to confuse “patriotism” with “nationalism.” As I define it, nationalism is a monologue in which you place your country in a position of moral and cultural supremacy over others. Patriotism, while deeply personal, is a dialogue with your fellow citizens, and a larger world, about not only what you love about your country but also how it can be improved. Unchecked nationalism leads to conflict and war. Unbridled patriotism can lead to the betterment of society. Patriotism is rooted in humility. Nationalism is rooted in arrogance."
The artist, like the writer and historian, is ultimately a storyteller. The best storytellers are those who can convey an idea, message, or lesson, in a way that transcends the stroke of a key or a brush. They provide perspective, promote awareness and even incite the timid among us to speak out or stand up.
Ulriksen’s illustration bridges the canyon of time between the Civil Rights movement of 50 years ago and the racial struggles of today, placing a leader of the past locking arms with his righteous progeny. This singular image reminds us that, despite all the sacrifice and progress we have made in this country, the work of Martin Luther King is far from done.
Donald Trump has emboldened the curators of the Confederate flame, the white supremacists and Neo-Nazis, to march through the streets with their torches, chant their slogans of hate, and run over us with their cars. The Civil War is not over. It is up to us as painters, athletes, chemists, plumbers, teachers and clerks, to fight back against resurgent racism and patriarchy, against bigotry and hate. So, on January 15, consider an act of patriotism by taking a knee in honor of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.