Today, January 19th, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist, a Baptist minister, and a leader of the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King was fatally shot as he stood on his motel’s second-floor balcony, dying after emergency surgery.
His death highlighted the immediate need for a bill on federal fair housing law and fuelled the Black Power movement, but also led to race riots in Washington D.C, Chicago, Baltimore, and dozens of other cities – triggering unrest in communities that were already discontented. Some communities took decades to recover from the riots, and they stoked irrational fear of black urban crime, causing increased racial segregation and white flight in America’s cities.
But what if Martin Luther King Jr hadn’t died?
20 years ago, The Boondocks – an American adult animated sitcom about a Black American family, the Freemans, and their experiences in a predominantly white suburb – aired “Return of The King,” with an alternate version of history where Martin Luther King Jr survived his assassination attempt.
The episode won a Peabody Award in 2006 but was controversial too.
The Cartoon Network responded to the criticism with a statement saying, “We think Aaron McGruder came up with a thought-provoking way of not only showing Dr. King’s bravery but also of reminding us of what he stood and fought for, and why even today, it is important for all of us to remember that and to continue to take action.”
