Why misquoting King is a potent political tool

U.S. Representative Chip Roy of Texas is just the latest conservative lawmaker to misuse the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to judge a person on character and not race.

- HAZAR YAZHIDA

In the protracted battle to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House, Roy, a Republican, nominated a Black man, Byron Donalds, a two-term representative from Florida who had little chance of winning the seat. Considered a rising star in the GOP, Donalds has opposed the very things that King fought for and ultimately was assassinated for - nonviolent demonstrations and voting rights protections.

Calling Donalds a "dear friend," Roy noted the selection by Democrats of another Black man, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and invoked King's words.

"For the first time in history, there have been two Black Americans placed into nomination for speaker of the House," Roy said. "However, we do not seek to judge people by the colour of their skin, but rather, the content of their character." As a scholar who researches social movements, racial politics and democracy, I have seen the consequences of the misuse of King's words play out everywhere from the halls of Congress to corporate diversity training sessions to local school board meetings.

In Roy's case, the invocation of King's legacy was an attempt to hide Donalds' outspoken right-wing political views, including his vote with 146 others to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Roy's speech also omits Donalds' support for voting reform laws in Florida that many Black civil rights leaders understood as efforts to disenfranchise minority voters.