Discussion for article #232838
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The womanâs murder is not noted because it has no historical significance, The impact it had on her family and friends was no doubt tragic, but she was killed by a deranged gunman (who coincidentally was black) with a mental illness induced grievance against Christians. The articleâs complaints about the authorâs failure to know about this is not a reflection on his schooling or failing in education about the civil rights movement, but a comment on how much reading he does outside of the classroom on subjects he claims to be interested in.
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Those who visit Ebenezer Baptist Church see the facts of Mrs. Kingâs assassination, displayed prominently, and in detail.
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Thank you âHarry Trumanâ - I read this entire article waiting to learn about the death of MLKâs mother, and got nothing until your excellent summary of what happened in the comments. And now I realize why the author avoided telling us what her headline promised - because it totally undercut her entire thesis. The Salon-ification of TPM marches onâŚ
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That would be âhis thesisâ.
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Errors in attribution often reveal an authorâs biasesâŚ
My response was the same as yours. Annoying. Give us the info the headline teases and away with the verbosity.
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Yeah, weird article. I was expecting that Mrs Kingâs assassination was motivated by something Civil Rights-related, but it seems like the author mightâve picked a more ânoteworthyâ neglected female to illustrate the point?
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I agree this was misleading. To use the word âassassinatedâ usually implies a political motive. But what is most frustrating is that the article doesnât talk about her at all beyond the headline, really, so the author is perpetuating the problem heâs complaining about. "Well, we donât study it that much because thereâs no such thing.â Seems to be the case here.
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My only âbutâ here would be that the womanâs role in the church should be remembered. Saying she was âassassinatedâ etc. was misleading. It sounds like her death had more political significance than that word implies.
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I really like the phrase âThe Salon-ification of TPM.â
I remember when one of the great promises of the Internet was that it would bring us new voices with new perspectives. That promise has been dead for a while, but when Amanda Marcotte showed up here to add a self-promoting, barely coherent screed to the Jonathan Chait political-correctness pile-on, that really put a flag on the tombstone.
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The authorâs name did not reveal his gender to me and my first take was that this was written by a woman. It is unusual to see a man who understands the feminist point that the personal is political.
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Very disappointed in this story. Poorly written and yes, as the others have said, misleading. It doesnât deserve headline status here at TPM.
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Josh employs a headline writer he is proud of. My guess is that the writer had little to do with the headline.
You canât have been here at TPM long or you would know that TPM rotates the headline status.
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Yes, plus King was already dead. Had he been alive when she was killed, huge story of course. Look at the murder of Bill Cosbyâs son Ennis. It was fairly big news, but had Cosby already been dead itâs a small story. Same with Michael Jordanâs father. If Jordan is not alive, pretty minor story even in the sports world, never mind the media.
Actually the headline is wrong. She was not assassinated, she was murdered. There was nothing political about it.
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I can assure you that TPM is a far more barebones operation than to be able to employ a person who just writes headlines.
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Are you really saying that Squire is some sort of establishment figure who does not qualify as a ânew voiceâ? Iâm constantly struck by how people have some complaint about a particular article and need to cast it into some largely morality play.
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This is the Salon-ification of TPM because the article is focused on the role of Black women in black history as opposed to Mrs King exclusively?
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Iâve been reading TPM for years. I love the site. I know it rotates (not that often ) â This one shouldnât have been in the queue. Just very disappointed in this story.
For example, in order to learn about the actual story of how and why Kingâs mother was killed, I had to research it myself. The writer seemed to almost go out his way to avoid telling us what happened. I know the further point was on his own studies, the forgotten people of history and how many âtransformational storiesâ he had been missing, but the reality of Kingâs mother being killed a crazed black man who hated Christians isnât really all that transformational. Itâs tragic, no doubt, but I think thereâs a reason not many people know of this historical footnote.
I think some might know why.
Itâs good to learn of the forgotten black women in history, but this story wasnât it. IMO.
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