This is how MLK was depicted in 1967 to scare white Americans

[tenderfoot]

Same as it ever was...

[lunatica]

1. Yup. Blame the victims!

A fine American tradition!

[PatSeg]

13. Apparently some things never change

Its a tactic and those in power use it over and over again.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Holy crap, is that Herblock ?!? Say it ain't so !! nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. The style is eerily similar, but

it's from Brooks, of the Birmingham News.

https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/a9n8q2W_700bwp.webp

Source: https://9gag.com/gag/a9n8q2W

Hat tip, Google

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Oh, blessed relief ! :) Of course cartoonists tended to draw in the same style back then, but ...

that seems almost like a deliberate imitation.

ETA: For the sake of your sanity, do not read too many of the comments at that link ...

[BKDem]

4. I thought it was Herblock too, but

what can be seen of the signature doesn’t look long enough.

[johnp3907]

15. The signature says "Brooks."

https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1218265-black-history-month

[Celerity]

21. Charles Brooks, noted anti-KKKlanner

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Brooks_(cartoonist)

Charles G. Brooks (November 22, 1920 – September 29, 2011) was an editorial cartoonist for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. He used his platform at The Birmingham News to criticize the Ku Klux Klan, despite the number powerful supporters in the region at that time. He won the Sigma Delta Chi Award for the most outstanding editorial cartoon of 1959 and served as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists in 1969.

Early life

Brooks was born in Hopewell, near Andalusia in Covington County, Alabama. After high school he moved to Birmingham and studied at Birmingham-Southern College for two years, and then transferred to the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts where he was instructed by Vaughn Shoemaker (Chicago Daily News) and Don Ulsh. While in Chicago, Brooks met his future wife, Virginia. They had a daughter, Barbara, and son, Charles G. Brooks, Jr.

In 1942 Brooks enlisted in the United States Army. After training he was enrolled in Officers Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 531st Engineer Shore Regiment. His unit participated in the D-Day landing at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, mainly helping to establish a supply port at the beachhead. Later that winter the unit, recommissioned as the 3053rd Engineer Combat Battalion, which deployed from Liège deep into Germany with the 9th Army and saw action in the Battle of the Bulge. During his army service Brooks drew several cartoons which appeared in Stars and Stripes.

Professional life

After his discharge in 1945 Brooks returned to his wife and new daughter in Chicago. He worked for Brach's Candy Company and as a bank guard before he found representation at the Fred Zaner Advertising Cartoon Syndicate. Hopeful that he could become an editorial cartoonist he wrote to friends in Birmingham and received mild interest from the Birmingham News. He took a gamble and made the trip to meet with News officials and was offered the position beginning in 1948.

Brooks' cartoons were immediately popular in Birmingham. He used the platform to express great faith in the character of the American people and harsh criticism of anyone or anything that attacked or insulted that character. He did not withhold criticism of the Ku Klux Klan, a group which is believed to have counted many of the city's powerful men among its members. In addition to cartooning, the News lent Brooks out to work with police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to create sketches of suspects from eyewitness descriptions.

[StarfishSaver]

6. This is important to remember when people insist "You should be more like Martin Luther King

[irisblue]

9. And a white man killed MLK, do not look past that fact

[Evolve Dammit]

17. Yup. I can't name a black assasin, except the DC sniper? I'm sure there are others, but almost all

shooters (school, political or otherwise) are white guys. Can't recall women either...

[Archae]

7. We have our own version nowadays...

Ben Garrison.

https://www.facebook.com/RealBenGarrisonCartoons/photos/new-the-obamasnake-obama-likes-to-tout-that-his-administration-was-mostly-scanda/1666989503361353/

[Ferrets are Cool]

8. Year pass, very little changes

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. The majority of Americans disapproved of him at the time of his assassination.

[Tommymac]

11. The majority of Americans back then were White.

Not so much today.

[JI7]

19. Whites are still a majority but not as high as back then and it's going down

each passing generation.

I believe kids under a certain age today are actually majority non white.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

26. The percentage of the population that is Black is about the same now as it was in 1970.

The percentage that is white has gone down, but there is certainly a lot of anti-Black racism among other races in this country.

[lunatica]

20. Really?

I never heard a single criticism from anyone around me. As a matter of fact he woke us up. We got to see the brutal treatment peaceful marchers got for daring to speak up. What’s happening today is very reminiscent of those days, and it’s serving to wake everyone up again.

The violence was then, and is now, being done to the peaceful marchers who support BLM.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

24. More than two-thirds of America as a whole disapproved of King in 1967.

[tenderfoot]

27. Meaning what?

eom

[WhiskeyGrinder]

28. Meaning they didn't need a cartoon to turn the tide against him.

Instead, it should be seen as mainstream.

[bluescribbler]

12. That looks like a Herblock cartoon.

He was ubiquitous in the 60s.

[Sneederbunk]

22. Charles Brooks Birmingham News.

[paleotn]

14. Yep. Some things never seem to change.

[Person of Interest]

16. Thank you so much for sharing this post!! 👍

I was only 2 years old in '67, and this is my first time seeing this depiction.

[warmfeet]

18. One of my, very few, lifetime heroes.

I was watching live tv when his assassination was reported with breaking news. I was five years old. At the time, I did not know who he was, or what he stood for. Much later, I came to appreciate the enormity of who he was, and what he stood for. Making that dream come true, is long past due. Do or die time.

[Ligyron]

23. I think I was 12 when the news hit

Didn't know much about him but whatever programing was on got switched to coverage of his assassination and I tried to follow along. I remember thinking how awful, that poor man as I listened to them play a few snippets from his speeches and spoke of his life and accomplishments. I was watching my little brother as my parents were out somewhere but when they got home I told them, "Martin Luther King was shot!"

My Dad said something about well, he was getting too "uppity". yeah...

If I could put my finger on it, The Generation Gap officially became a thing right about then.

[warmfeet]

25. Yeah, I ran upstairs and told my parents that a king was shot and killed.

Martin Luther the King, that is how I explained it. I didn't know that King could be a last name, I assumed it was a title, I was only five. My parents seemed puzzled at first, and then concerned. They then turned on the tv to view the actual facts of what happened. I wish to make his dream a reality. We deserve that. It's long past due.