What would Martin Luther King Jr. think of America today?

Well, that depends...

Martin Luther King, Jr.
(Image credit: (Keystone/Getty Images))

Martin Luther King Jr. would have turned 85 last week. And as the U.S. celebrates his birthday on Monday, pundits from all sides are engaging in an exercise retired English professor Harry Mosley calls WWDKT, or "What would Dr. King think about America today?" We can't know for certain, Mosley acknowledges in The Southern Illinoisan, "but based on his own words and actions, some probable inferences can be made."

It would be unfair to say that those educated inferences have absolutely nothing to do with what King would think and everything to do with what the inferring party believes. But let's face it: Even in the best of cases, all of this speculation is based on the assertions of people who knew King a half century ago, or who are scrutinizing his speeches and writings all these decades later.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.