HIJACKED!

An African American pastor faults Black leaders and activists who embrace Martin Luther King Jr.’s “tough love” but “reject his tender love.”

As the author of multiple books about Christian living and the senior pastor at Albuquerque’s Abundant Life Community Church, Washington has long been attracted to the social and spiritual vision of Martin Luther King Jr. However, when reading news stories about violence in his hometown of Chicago or when looking at Black Lives Matter protests, Washington laments that “lesser men'' today hold Black leadership positions. These leaders and “liberal-thinking religious institutions,” he says, have “hijacked” King’s dream, and only a reorientation back toward his original vision will uplift Black communities. The first in a four-volume series that critiques contemporary Black political and intellectual leadership, this book centers on examining King’s ideology itself. To Washington, King’s philosophy of nonviolence cannot be separated from his Christian faith. Though modern activists may emphasize King’s civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance to oppression, this book urges readers to not forget the prominence of “forgiveness, grace, and mercy” in his treatment of White Americans. The book similarly emphasizes King’s focus on unity, arguing that contemporary protests such as kneeling during the national anthem are “destructive to the survival of America.” Borrowing heavily from right-wing critics of critical race theory, such as James Lindsey and Jerome Corsi (who make frequent appearances in its citations), the book warns against “the woke Marxist left” in public schools that is teaching White students “they are less than good people because of something they are not responsible for.” Discerning readers will grow weary of straw-men arguments that, when distilled to their essence, read like longer versions of inflammatory social media posts. And while there is ample room for debate about tactics, strategies, and objectives within conversations on social justice movements, the book’s tendency toward hyperbole, demonization, and questionable sources discredits valid points it may otherwise make about the centrality of Christianity to King’s vision of America.

An overheated polemic that doesn’t do justice to Martin Luther King Jr.’s complicated record.