After being invited to give a speech on MLK Day at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones discovered that some members of the group who invited her were opposed to her appearance, claiming that her work on The 1619 Project and other projects did not represent the views of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When Hannah-Jones learned of the opposition, she decided to take matters into her own hands in order to teach her audience a lesson. She changed her prepared speech at the last minute and combined King’s own words from speeches he gave between 1956 and 1967 — without informing her audience that she would be reciting his words, not her own.
In a Twitter thread, Hannah-Jones said that she learned about the resistance to her attendance from hacked emails that labelled her a “discredited activist” and “unworthy of such relationship with King.” Hannah-Jones claims her remarks had a “incredible” effect on the audience by appropriating his words and “guiding the audience to believe King’s words were mine.” The New York Times writer also stated that she removed the word “Negro” and substituted the word “Black” where necessary so that attendees would not be aware that the remarks were not from her, but from King himself.
I was invited to give an MLK speech today and a small number of members of the group hosting me wrote and then leaked emails opposing my giving this speech, as it dishonored Dr. King for me to do so. They called me a “discredited activist” “unworthy of such association with King”
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) January 17, 2022
The journalist quoted King, saying, “The move backwards has a new name now, it is called the white backlash, but the white backlash is nothing new.” It is the resurfacing of long-dormant prejudices, hostilities, and ambivalences. Today’s white backlash stems from the same problem that has plagued America since the black man arrived in chains on its shores.”
She admitted that there was “uncomfortable silence” in the audience as she gave the speech until the crucial moment she shared that they had been listening to the thoughts and ideas of the activist from over 60 years ago. Hannah-Jones reminded them that, while he was alive, he was labeled a “charlatan, demagogue, communist, traitor” and that “three-quarters of Americans opposed King at his death.”
Oh, the uncomfortable silence as I read Dr. King’s words at a commemoration of Dr. King’s life when people had no idea that these were his words. When I revealed that everything I said to that point was taken from his speeches between ’56 and 67… Can you say SHOOK!
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) January 17, 2022
Hannah-Jones wanted them to understand that “people who oppose today what he stood for back then do not get to be the arbiters of his legacy,” because “the real Dr. King cannot be commodified, homogenized, or white-washed, and whatever side you stand on TODAY is the side you would have been back then.”
It’s a strong lesson, and it’s the reason she started The 1619 project, which “aims to redefine the country’s history by placing the ramifications of slavery and the accomplishments of Black Americans at the very core of the United States’ national narrative,” according to the New York Times.
The journalist ended the thread by reminding her Twitter followers that his speeches deserve to be read again and understood through an educated, not “miseducated” lens. Hannah-Jones summed up with one final tweet to drive the point home about King’s legacy: “Dr. King was a radical critic of racism, capitalism and militarism. He didn’t die. He was assassinated.”