Interesting insights, thank you Sarah! This is pure speculation, but I wonder if this shift in language may be traced back to Dr. Martin Luther King popularizing the phrase “beloved community,” which he spoke about often. When working for my state legislature in the early 2000’s, I noticed African American clergy and other black “commu…
Interesting insights, thank you Sarah! This is pure speculation, but I wonder if this shift in language may be traced back to Dr. Martin Luther King popularizing the phrase “beloved community,” which he spoke about often. When working for my state legislature in the early 2000’s, I noticed African American clergy and other black “community leaders” who came to the legislature to lobby speak of “the community.” I noticed the elected leaders using the same terms, "the Community" and "Community leaders." This was not necessarily a new use of the word community, but it was new to me at that time. It confused me at first, but it became clear they were speaking specifically of the African American community, whose interests they were representing. Perhaps as the social justice warrior or successor ideology has grown and morphed into something entirely different from and antithetical to MLK’s vision, the term “community” (stripped of anything"beloved") has spread to every and any identity imaginable, resulting in more tribalism, more hatred, not less. MLK referred to ALL people by using the term “beloved community.” Here is a quote from an article on the King Center website:
"One expression of agape love in Dr. King’s Beloved Community is justice, not for any one oppressed group, but for all people. As Dr. King often said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” He felt that justice could not be parceled out to individuals or groups, but was the birthright of every human being in the Beloved Community. I have fought too long hard against segregated public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concerns,” he said. “Justice is indivisible.”
Interesting insights, thank you Sarah! This is pure speculation, but I wonder if this shift in language may be traced back to Dr. Martin Luther King popularizing the phrase “beloved community,” which he spoke about often. When working for my state legislature in the early 2000’s, I noticed African American clergy and other black “community leaders” who came to the legislature to lobby speak of “the community.” I noticed the elected leaders using the same terms, "the Community" and "Community leaders." This was not necessarily a new use of the word community, but it was new to me at that time. It confused me at first, but it became clear they were speaking specifically of the African American community, whose interests they were representing. Perhaps as the social justice warrior or successor ideology has grown and morphed into something entirely different from and antithetical to MLK’s vision, the term “community” (stripped of anything"beloved") has spread to every and any identity imaginable, resulting in more tribalism, more hatred, not less. MLK referred to ALL people by using the term “beloved community.” Here is a quote from an article on the King Center website:
"One expression of agape love in Dr. King’s Beloved Community is justice, not for any one oppressed group, but for all people. As Dr. King often said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” He felt that justice could not be parceled out to individuals or groups, but was the birthright of every human being in the Beloved Community. I have fought too long hard against segregated public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concerns,” he said. “Justice is indivisible.”
https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/the-king-philosophy/