I take some hope from this - things are getting better, only far slower than most of us would like. Enacting change is a complicated thing to do, regardless of the simplicity of the message.

I don't necessarily see MLK in the same way you do - I'm not an American first and foremost and I'm a little younger than you. I think lots of people fundamentally miss MLK's socialism, or history allowed it to be swept under the carpet because it was unpalatable to the 20th Century sensibilities.

“Let us continue to hope, work, and pray that in the future we will live to see a warless world, a better distribution of wealth, and a brotherhood that transcends race or color…This is the gospel that I will preach to the world.” - Letter to Coretta Scott (1952).

White folks do use MLKs words like a gospel of woke, and you're right, it doesn't earn them a ticket to ride - but they often pick the wrong words. They pick the words that resonate with black people and they attempt to utilise them - in doing so they miss the fundamental and real help they could offer in the fight to eradicate racism. Keeping the left to the left and arguing for better economic conditions for all.

Great article as always and powerful stuff. :o)