— Musings —04.04.2015 07:44 AM
MLK
Since I was a kid – since this day in 1972, in fact, when I started writing a daily journal – I have always taken note of April 4, and said to myself: “April 4. Dr. King.”
Today, 47 years ago, Martin Luther King was murdered by a racist in Memphis. Dr. King was a giant of a man, the one who – as I write in Fight The Right – anticipated the message at the core of the Occupy movement, among other things. While his message continues to resonate across the decades, the violence of racial hatred continues unabated, too.
It’s April 4, and so I give you some of his most remarkable speech. Surveying the pygmies who now crowd the public stage, I don’t think we will see the likes of him again.
The video appears to be gone; but, regardless, the sentiment is shared. Thank you.
MLK was also one of my boyhood heroes. I grew to admire his Christianity, belief in Creation, and his insistence on the equality of mankind. As I matured I came to realize that his belief in Creation was fundamental to his belief in equality. Of course back then we didn’t have purple dinosaurs to use to make fun of his belief and some northern Democrat shot the southern Republican but his is a compelling story. We need more men and women of his integrity.
* MLK was also one of my boyhood heroes. I grew to admire his Christianity, belief in Creation, and his insistence on the equality of mankind. *
In that order, it would seem.
Among those pygmies, I might add; and shamelessly riding on the coat tails of Dr. King, is none other than Barack Obama. His speech and his walk across the bridge is Selma was a shameless, political photo op, and rather than speaking out against the current racism being heaped upon African Americans by law enforcement and government, he chose to wax poetic about the past while watching his nation tear apart from everything MLK fought to correct. The more I see, the more I believe that Nero and Obama are one in the same. Rome is burning and not even the man who fancies himself and proudly is marketed as “the first black president” has the guts to say: “I’m sorry Dr. King, we’ve lost the fucking plot.”
I wish more people (white or ethnic) would take the time to read about people like King, Malcolm X or even Marcus Garvey. If they did, they might see how little in America has really changed.
Thanks for reminding us of the day Warren. Unfortunately, people need to be reminded why he died and what he fought for. His movement was so much deeper than what television and media portray.
I don’t think a completely unnecessary “thanks, Obama” type response was what was being called for here, today, on this historic day.
And just for the record, “whites and ethnics” is only correct if you view the world from a white person’s eyes.
Agreed VH… I’m white. How else am I supposed to view the world. I only have one set of eyes. And there’s nothing wrong with using the word “ethnics..” it’s a just a word. If you want to attach a negative sentiment to it, go for it. Truth is: I don’t have the time to sit here and type out the proper name of every ethnicity on the planet. I question whose eyes you’re looking through?
Finally, Obama is a shameless hack and a hypocrite of the highest order and all too happy to capitalise on his “blackness” when it suits him and his narrative. Calling him out on the anniversary of MLK’s murder is completely warranted and appropriate when you consider his selfishness.
It is worth remembering that in his time, King was vilified as un-American, a troublemaker, a subversive, a Communist and worse. The right only allows tolerates the sanctification of people like King once they are safely out of the way. Whatever the inaccuracies of the movie Selma, one thing it got absolutely right is that King succeeded because he was totally willing to be a pain in the ass to the Establishment, and totally prepared not to take “no” for an answer. People who do that are always hated by the defenders of the status quo. And that has not changed.
I just finished reading James Baldwin’s “No Name in the Street” for the second time.
Written in 1972, his words continue to resonate with the ongoing white and black conflict in America, the committee against “communism” now so-called “terrorism”, and Harper’s Bill C-51 is even anticipated with Nixon’s fear-mongering.
Unless we stand-up for change, things just stay the same.
Martin Luther King Jr. was one person who stood for change and was willing to die for it.
Thanks for reminding us!