A Maine newspaper has apologized for publishing a heavily redacted version of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech on Sunday, after a deluge of backlash from readers, on social media and even a cable news show host criticized the paper for whitewashing the Black civil rights leader’s legacy on what would have been his 94th birthday.
The Bangor Daily News editorial board has run the edited speech on and off since 2011. While some readers condemned the paper for omitting the parts of the speech that explicitly address the links between systemic racism and poverty, this is the first year the paper says it has been the target of such impassioned anger.
“For years, we have published the same editorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Typically, this abridged version of one of the great pieces of American oratory, King’s 1963 ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, receives little fanfare. That was not the case this year,” the editorial board said on Tuesday.
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