Civil Rights Pioneer Bob Woodson: MLK Statues Will Be Targeted Next

A statue of Martin Luther King Jr. is seen as demonstrators raise a fist image at The Mart
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

Appearing on Steve Malzberg’s weekly Saturday commentary show Eat the Press, civil rights pioneer Bob Woodson lashed out at the radical left, claiming civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s statue would likely be targeted next and if he were alive today he’d be selected for “anti-bias” reeducation.

The show opened with a quote from a recent op-ed Woodson wrote for Fox News where he suggested King would be targeted for “reeducation” by the radical left today:

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned a just and equitable America, in which citizens treated each other as persons rather than as carriers of an indelible racial imprint. Today, the progressive left has bet against King’s vision… King himself would be called out and targeted for “anti-bias” reeducation if he were alive today.

“Would the BLMs [Black Lives Matter] of the world consider [King] today to be a racist?” Malzberg asked.

Woodson responded by sharing a recent incident where a young white student’s essay was rejected for using Dr. King’s speech as a theme since he “used the word ‘negro’ and therefore it’s offensive to blacks.” 

Woodson described the incident as an example of “white America trying to say to black America what is offensive and that’s how bad it’s getting.” 

Recalling the vandalism of the monument of abolitionist legend Frederick Douglass during last summer’s BLM riots, Woodson surmised King’s statue would be next.

“The fact that the statue of Frederick Douglass in Rochester New York was torn down this summer gives you an idea of where the left is going with the perversion of the civil rights movement,” he said. “It’s really a perversion of it that is causing this kind of moral drift. I wouldn’t be surprised [if] at this time next year they took his statue down.”

Malzberg, shocked by Woodson’s pronouncement, is left speechless.

“That is just so insane,” he replied. “So insane.”

After applauding Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for rejecting the education of critical race theory in the school system, Woodson shares a message of unity in the face of the division created by the radical left.

“All of us black, white, brown, we must come together to confront evil,” he said. “[The radical left] racialized everything that I hope white America will wake up and experience race fatigue and just push back against it. That’s my hope.”

Last month, Woodson wrote, “Today, the progressive left has bet against King’s vision: we are not persons, we are our racial identities, and anyone who rejects that view is guilty of racism.”

“The Civil Rights Movement of which I was proudly a part has been betrayed by a twisted progressive ideology that hyper-racializes our country,” he added.

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

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