Tory MP Ben Bradley humiliated by Martin Luther King Jr’s daughter after butchering her father’s words
Ben Bradley (L), a British MP, was schooled by none other than Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, Bernice King. (Twitter/Getty)
After British Conservative MP Ben Bradley butchered a Martin Luther King Jr quote, he was classily corrected by none other than the civil rights stalwart’s own daughter.
On Sunday (23 November), the Mansfield lawmaker tweeted out his regular wrap on equality – increased protections in the books for straight white men.
Quoting part of King’s famous “I have a dream” public speech, Bradley in a since-deleted tweet said: “His point was than [sic] skin colour doesn’t matter.
“We’re equal. Now you want to define people by their physical characteristics?”
King in no way meant this, said Bernice King, the late reverend’s youngest daughter and CEO of The King Center.
The 57-year-old tweeted: “My father’s point and central to his beliefs, teachings and activism (per his speeches/books) was this: We cannot condone racism, but must eradicate it as one of the pervasive, systemic, overt and destructive Triple Evils, with militarism and poverty being the other two.
Here’s the tweet to which I was responding. pic.twitter.com/AOhiM48J39
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) November 23, 2020
“To that end, we should [use] his words not to ignore racism but to stop the type of suppression of Black votes that’s being attempted in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan right now,” she added.
“And to end health, policing and housing disparities driven by racism. Eradicate racism.”
King’s graceful schooling of Bradley drew praise from her 551,000 followers.
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This is what Bernice King had said in response to Mr Bradley MP's pronouncement. Living and learning, right here. https://t.co/omkO0IbC1z— Andy Payne 🇺🇦 (@PercyBlakeney63) November 24, 2020
Imagine trying to defend your idiocy by quoting M L King and then getting called out BY HIS DAUGHTER, so deleting your tweet. Hahahaha @BBradley_Mans https://t.co/Y1uqert7sy— beckib (@beckibunn) November 24, 2020
Ben Bradley, Tory MP and defender of straight white men
In recent days, Ben Bradley has sought to reposition himself as a boon for equality.
And we’re sure it has absolutely nothing to do with it, nope, his record of being criticised for: claiming that free school meal vouchers are used by lower-income families for “crack”, saying the Black Lives Matter movement stokes “division”, refusing to take part in training to tackle homophobia, suggesting unemployed Britons on state welfare programs should be sterilised and for, overall, his voting record of voting against pay rises for nurses and abandoning lone refugee children.
Indeed, Bradley, sounded off against equality legislation last week and called for a “Minister of Men” in the cabinet.
Speaking in the House of Commons on International Men’s Day, he requested that “straight [is] equally protected as gay” as well as later adding on Twitter that he wants to remove terms such as “female” and”BME” from the Equality Act 2010, the bedrock of Britain’s equality law.
This is Chapter 1 of the Equality Act 2010, setting out the definitions of the protected characteristics. What part of this do you say is unclear? pic.twitter.com/E3Y6WDFpiS— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) November 19, 2020
Those who have read the Equality Act 2010 would be able to tell you the bill already does this and, yes, does list “sex” and “race” as protected characteristics, not “female” and “BME” as he claimed.
Instead, Bradley said, the bill has resulted in “positive discrimination at the expense of certain groups” and added: “If we hold a whole department to account with people dedicated to ensuring that women are considered – quite rightly so – why not the same for men?”
The defender of straight white men also criticised on the house floor the language used to describe men – “male privilege, toxic masculinity and of men as oppressors rather than positive contributors or role models,” he reeled.
“Men are talked about all too often as a problem which must be rectified.
“Too often the constant drive for equality and diversity seeks to drag others down rather than lift everyone up.”
