The Root is black as the rest of y’all. We can collectively name all the members of Dipset; at least half of us have a can of used grease on our stoves right now. We still hide money in a Crown Royal bag, and will judge you for eating macaroni and cheese that we wouldn’t touch.
The Root: Don’t come for our blackness. Martin Luther King Jr. is a god to us. He is the godfather of the civil rights movement; an American icon, and his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” is still used as a blueprint for nonviolent resistance against unjust laws.
Also The Root: To paraphrase comedian Jerrod Carmichael, “We could spit all of the lyrics to Jay-Z songs, but we only know about four bars of the “I Have A Dream speech.”
So we decided that we wanted to shame y’all, too. Why should we be the only ones admitting that we could be better. I mean did you know that Martin’s name wasn’t even Martin? It was actually Eddie King Jr. Sike. It was Michael. Big Martin changed his and little Martin’s name from Michael to Martin in 1934 after a trip to Germany where he “became inspired by the Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther.”
So stop judging us, with your judging ass.
Below are 10 more questions, let’s see how much you know about Dr. King.