Opinion: MLK’s unsanitized lessons

They have a particular relevance for the Trump era. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, April 4, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [David Leonhardt] David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist Decades later, the story of the civil rights movement can seem so tidy — so virtuous and inevitably victorious — that it loses some of its inspirational power. In its own day, though, the movement had much in common with today’s political struggles, over justice, democracy and equality: It involved more defeats than victories. It often felt contaminated by the grubbiness of partisan politics. And its leaders were human, which is to say that they were flawed and that they made many mistakes. Today, of course, is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., killed in Memphis while he was supporting striking sanitation workers. King is now such a widely revered figure that many remembrances of him lack substance. But there are plenty of ways to celebrate what he actually stood for: not just moral clarity but also courage, toughness and resilience in the face of frequent setbacks and vicious criticism. You can [read his final speech]( delivered in Memphis the night before his death, or you can [listen to it](. Don’t settle for the usual quick outtakes. The famous lines — like “I’ve been to the mountaintop” — aren’t the only worthwhile ones. “Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination,” King said. “And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge, to make America what it ought to be.” Another option: If you haven’t yet read Taylor Branch’s great book, [“Parting the Waters,”]( you can start it. It remains one of my 10 favorite books, on any subject. You can also watch [the new HBO documentary]( that Branch created along with Trey Ellis, Jackie Glover and others. (If you don’t have HBO, you’ll need to wait a bit.) “For thirty years, I have been trying and failing to help move authentic civil rights history to film,” [Branch tweeted last weekend](. “It’s not the familiar, ‘sanitized’ MLK.” You can also read the collection of Op-Eds that The Times has published in recent days, by [Wendi Thomas]( and others. We’ve linked to each of those pieces below. If you have questions for Jesse Jackson, who [wrote one of the pieces]( leave them in the Comments section of his article; he will be replying to some of them in coming days. In other news, The Washington Post [has a scoop]( Robert Mueller has informed President Trump’s lawyers that the president is not currently a criminal target of his investigation. It’s a nice bit of reporting, but it doesn’t change the big picture. For one thing, the word “currently” is a pretty big caveat. For another, I remain skeptical that Mueller would bring criminal charges against a sitting president, given the number of legal experts who consider such a move problematic under any circumstances. The biggest threat to Trump remains an investigation that uncovers significant wrongdoing, weakening his support among voters and among the one body that has the unquestioned power to hold him accountable at any time: Congress. The full Opinion report from The Times follows. It includes Tim Wu arguing that the answer to Facebook’s enormous power isn’t so much regulating the company as [coming up with a private-sector alternative](. Martin Luther King Jr., 50 Years Gone Op-Ed Contributor [Jesse Jackson: How Dr. King Lived Is Why He Died]( By JESSE JACKSON We owe it to Dr. King to commemorate the man in full: a radical, ecumenical, antiwar, pro-immigrant and scholarly champion of the poor. Op-Ed Contributor [The Politically Progressive Faith of Martin Luther King]( By GREGORY E. STERLING Dr. King said in 1957 that democracy was failing to live up to its “noble ideals and principles.” That remains true today. Sunday Review [We Forgot What Dr. King Believed In]( By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON He was a man of faith, but his faith demanded action. Sunday Review [How Memphis Gave Up on Dr. King’s Dream]( By WENDI C. THOMAS Fifty years after Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis, the city remains the poorest large metropolitan area in the country. Editorial | Tune In, Turn Out [What the Supreme Court Doesn’t Get About Racism]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD The court has a chance to be more honest than it has been about discriminatory voting laws. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [leonhardt@nytimes.com](mailto:leonhardt@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). 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