The Prophet’s Wish: A Freudian Interpretation of Martin Luther King’s Dream

Abstract

I Have a Dream! It has been almost 50 years since Martin Luther King, Jr. uttered these hallowed words to an expansive crowd gathered at the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C. Today, just as it was on that hot August day, listeners are still captivated by King’s eloquent exposition detailing a day of human brotherhood—a day when each man, woman, boy and girl would be judged not by their skin (or any other physical attribute) but solely by, as King proclaimed, “the content of their character.” But was there more to King’s dream than we are often led to believe? This essay seeks to uncover those hidden feelings—or wishes, as Sigmund Freud would characterize them—that had a pivotal role in forming King’s dream. In my attempt to reveal these hidden wishes, I shall detail the complex socio-historical influences that supplied an unconscious reserve of negative affect—namely hate—within King’s psyche that plagued him throughout his life. So the question arises after such an investigation: Could King, the heralded prophet of love, declare a dream of love and, at the same time, feel an intense sense of hate?