It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Observed), and the quotes are happening. All over social media, people are sharing things Martin Luther King Jr. said during his 39 years of life. Our favorite tribute so far? Dick Vitale’s. Dickie V went on Google Image, took four screenshots of MLK quotes, and tweeted them out. It’s moving:
The thing no one is saying about this is that sharing Martin Luther King Jr. quotes has become trite. It’s cliché. It’s overdone to the point of having lost most of its meaning. So, to best honor the man who helped lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott and a 63% unfavorable rating in 1968, here are a bunch of things Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t say:
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
Oop! Not MLK on this one. It’s most often attributed to Wayne Gretzky, but I don’t know if he was the first to say it and I’m not going to try to find out.
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
It’s possible Martin Luther King Jr. said this, but we don’t know. We don’t know if Martin Luther King Jr. liked the movie Casablanca. Or at least, I don’t.
“We’re talking about practice. Not a game! Not a game! Not a game! We’re talking about practice.”
Ooh, not MLK. Allen Iverson, actually. And then thousands upon thousands more.
“Mrs. Robinson? That bitch is sick!”
While Martin Luther King Jr. did live for nearly four months after the release of The Graduate and the novel upon which the movie was based had been out for five years at the time of his death, we have no evidence to suggest that Martin Luther King Jr. ever criticized the predatorial woman who had an affair with the movie/book’s protagonist with this exact sequence of words.
“Conference USA men’s basketball is dominating the Martin Luther King Jr. Day sports programming this year.”
Just because it’s true doesn’t mean Martin Luther King Jr. said it.
