Trends

June 13th, 2073

REPORTER:  Yes as you can see I’m here at the site of the statue to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., in the state capital, where protesters are forming a crowd around the pedestal.  Here we are, beg your pardon—yes, you there, tell us about your protest?

PROTESTER:  We’re demanding the state take down all MLK statues, effective immediately.  Apparently he would only angrily denounce people who wouldn’t angrily denounce people who wouldn’t angrily denounce people who did or said something racist, when everyone knows the correct number of connections is three—we must all be ready and willing to angrily denounce at least anyone who won’t angrily denounce anyone who won’t angrily denounce anyone who won’t angrily denounce anyone who does or says anything racist, if not also up to the fourth or fifth connection—don’t you agree, comrade?

REPORTER:  Quite.  And yet—

PROTESTER:  Apparently he also wasn’t consumed by blinding rage.  I mean, maybe sometimes, but he didn’t live his whole life that way.

REPORTER:  Are you aware that a Harvard history professor has announced he is researching these questions?  Do you think the state should hold off on your demands, until some answers are in about whether MLK was really as bad as you say?

PROTESTER:  What are you, some kind of racist or something?

(The video cuts off here.)

REPORTER:  Right, then.  As you can see, I’ve had to flee to this hilltop to escape murder at the hands of the angry mob.  You can still make out the statue, there between those buildings—no, I stand corrected, the mob is toppling the statue as we watch.