Opinion: Martin Luther King Jr would have called it a genocide, too

Reverand Martin Luther King Jr was a radical of his time.

In his opposition to the immoral US war on Vietnam, he did not mince his words about what the Americans had done to the Vietnamese people.

He famously said: "We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. We have destroyed their land and their crops...We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men. Now, there is little left to build on, save bitterness."

Like Vietnam, MLK's take on the death and destruction in Gaza would be crystal clear: Israel is, in fact, guilty of genocide, and a fragile ceasefire deal doesn't change the fact that almost every facet of Palestinian life has been destroyed in part by American weaponry.

Annually, on Martin Luther King Jr Day, a national American holiday to honour the civil rights icon, we witness a disingenuous co-opting of MLK's life and legacy, one that finds us reading posts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) official page on X, honouring King's efforts as a leader of the civil rights movement.

Read more: Martin Luther King Jr would have called it a genocide, too