[abalone]

Fantastic man, and barbershops have long played an important role in African-American communities.

But as to the comment about MLK, it would be a mistake to comprehend the civil rights movement as being embodied in entrepreneurialism.

This being a startup community of entrepreneurs, it is tempting for us to celebrate the power of individual free enterprise paired with social cause. And that is noble. But the civil rights movement stands for organized action to fight racism at a systemic level. It is the more conservative, privileged sector that focuses on "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" individual entrepreneurialism as the pathway to racial equality.

The civil rights movement is about organized mass action to address the racism and disadvantages inherent in white-dominated institutions and social relations. That is what MLK stood for: fixing white racism and structural inequality, not merely black role models and self-esteem.

[qznc]

Martin Luther King also demanded his followers to become better people to disprove the stupid-savage-criminal image they had. The Black Panthers also stood for fixing white racism and structural inequality.

It is this "become a better person" aspect of MLK, which Dennis embodies, imho.