Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It's supposed to be about remembering the man who articulated the struggle of black people so well during the Civil Rights Movement. Like so many important issues of today, King's legacy has been twisted and transformed into something negative. Racism has turned the corner and is no longer a cultural and social problem. It's a political talking point. Sure racism is still around because there are a-holes in every walk of life. However, there are those who would have you believe that every issue is somehow tied to race-relations and that everybody is a racist and has a racial agenda.
I never knew King since he died before I was born. I can't profess to know what he would think about today's racial discourse. However, if you are objective about history, you know that he personified intelligent, peaceful social change. No one can deny his oratory legacy as well as his ability to lead. You take that image and juxtapose it with today's leadership and their rhetoric and you will find a frightening contrast. Jesse Jackson, who was part of King's entourage, is a good example of somebody who could have been great but chose to use racial rhetoric to shakedown companies and misrepresent the truth for political purposes.
I'd like to write that Martin Luther King would have come unglued with anger at Jackson and the host of black and white politicians who will use race to ignite anger among the voting public. What I can say is that King projected class and his efforts actually produced positive results. He spoke of respect for all people and his words seem to paint a utopian picture of how people should live together. Maybe the world has too many cynics, but it's hard to believe somebody could get by talking like that today. Would King survive the 24 hour news cycle and the relentless media pundit criticism and the tabloid stories about his private life?
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King's legacy was not just his public presentations and his ability to lead, but also his gift for showing the world a positive way to live. Can we turn down the gansta rap and the frothing political rhetoric and the angry bitterness of the entitlement culture enough to hear Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech with new ears?
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