Today is Martin Luther King day. It was established in 1986 and was seen as a breakthrough of sorts: that US citizens of all colours, especially white, would publicly acknowledge the importance of this man who, let’s not forget, was killed for being what he was.
The online newspaper The Canary has a piece on him today, reminding us that Martin Luther King wasn’t just a black man seeking justice for all black people – although that was probably his central motivation. He was also a man who saw the obscenity of capitalist America. He declared what is painfully the case: “[The US is] the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”
King believed in equality for everyone. Regardless of colour, he pointed to the “gulf between superfluous wealth and abject poverty.” We tend to forget that he established a Poor People’s Campaign that would push for the “total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.”
But that’s the States, you say. We live in a more caring world, this side of the Atlantic.
Oh yeah? Last night on RTÉ I saw two trailers for a documentary about homelessness in Dublin, with unhealthy-looking people talking about the appalling conditions in which they lived. Today in The Irish Times I read an article with the enticing title ‘Take a look inside Chris de Burgh’s Wicklow mansion’. It has an estate of 27 acres, has eight bedrooms, a “guest cottage” of 1500 square feet, stables and “substantial new buildings, one of which houses a swimming pool”. It’s on offer for sale: €12.5 million.
Yes, ‘Lady in Red’ is a catchy if somewhat cloying love song; yes, Chris de Burgh may well be a decent man. But does one man or one family need to live in – or sell – such absurdly opulent accommodation? What kind of Ireland is this, where some people live in tiny pup-tents and scavenge for food, while others live in luxury and have every material comfort?
I don’t know how to solve this disgusting gap between rich and poor, any more than Martin Luther King knew how to solve the same problem in the US. But we should at least acknowledge the massive scandal that it is, and ask our politicians what the hell they plan to do about it.
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