What most Americans get wrong about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy

You probably know civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. from his legendary “I Have a Dream” speech — but if that’s all you know of him, you aren’t getting the full story.

“People don’t know the true legacy of Dr. King because the truth would cause real disorder,” Brittany Packnett, an activist for racial justice, told Mic. “But there are so many things, so many things, we get wrong about Dr. King.”

In an exclusive video op-ed for Mic, Packnett reveals the full story of King’s fight for the rights of black Americans, reminding us of the danger that comes with erasing the parts of his legacy that might, in her words, “ruffle a few feathers.”

“But looking at the full scale and scope of his life will remind us that freedom work requires people who are brave enough to be unpopular, to be controversial,” she said. “And so when we erase that legacy, we actually let ourselves off the hook.”

“Dr. King was nonviolent,” she added. “But he was not non-confrontational.”

Watch Packnett’s powerful video below: