Open AccessMartin Luther King Jr. on Democratic Propaganda, Shame, and Moral Transformation
Author(s) -
Meena Krishnamurthy
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
political theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.478
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1552-7476
pISSN - 0090-5917
DOI - 10.1177/00905917211021796
Subject(s) - democracy , shame , politics , sociology , context (archaeology) , law , white (mutation) , political science , history , biochemistry , chemistry , archaeology , gene
This essay develops an account of Martin Luther King Jr.’s justification for and use of what I will call “democratic propaganda”—truthful propaganda that is aimed at promoting and fostering democratic political action by stirring readers’ emotions. I interpret King’s famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in the broader context of his work and argue that it is a piece of democratic propaganda. I give an account of what led King to support the use of democratic propaganda and why he hoped it would help to overcome a central problem in the civil rights movement: the political inaction of the white moderates. King emphasizes shame in the Letter, and I argue that this concept offers us a new way of thinking about the efficacy of democratic propaganda. I close by considering the relevance of King’s approach for today’s Black Lives Matter movement. Despite the innovativeness of King’s use of shame, I suggest it may be time for a new approach to Black politics and activism.