The Slain Civil Rights Leader - TM

[Perd Hapley]

Have you ever noticed that MLK is ALWAYS referred to by the news media by the above phrase?  Maybe this is peculiar to radio news spots, but every MLK day, I expect to hear this phrase used about twenty-seven times.  I'm not disputing that the epitaph is correct, just over-used.

Have any of you noticed this? 

[cosine]

What's the news media?


I won't noticed to what you're referring, 'cause I don't watch or listen to the news. I mostly get my news in the written word off the Internet, and I'm deliberately steering clear of stories about MLK.

[Perd Hapley]

I'm deliberately steering clear of stories about MLK.

I sympathize.  I once put down my volume of DuBois when I realized it was February (Black History Month).  Started reading again in March.   

[wingnutx]

It's common, almost universal, to attach small description the first time a person is mentioned in a news feature, and this is a pretty appropriate one for Rev. King.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

One of the Koolest things I have heard in my life is the fact that here in AloBammo, there is a bit of a backlash w/r/t Reverend Doctah Mutton Loofah DeKang day.

You see, here at civil rights Ground Zero, there has been a small but steadily growing number of municipalities and ruralities (?) which are choosing to celebrate the birthday of one Robert E. Lee on the Monday usually dedicated to the more celebrated civil rights hero.

A new book by a school friend of mine, entitled "I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. (Free Press, 2000)." Dr. Michael Eric Dyson is now walking in the steps of Louis Farrakhan, and he inexplicably felt obligated to throw the floodlight upon the more unsavory elements of Kings life. For example:

   1. Kings critics have long noted that much of the civil rights leaders academic writings were plagiarized. Dyson concedes the point, but justifies the conduct by suggesting that this tendency had its roots in a black tradition of borrowing and expanding the ideas of other people.

      He contends that Kings plagiarism at school is perhaps a sad symptom of his response to the racial times in which he matured. And so, King stole from the writings of others because of his black heritage. But what of the thousands of honest black students who never stooped to literary thievery? How did they overcome their tradition?

   2. It is widely known that King was a womanizing adulterer. Again, Dyson comes to the leaders defense. He asserts that the reformers relationship with Coretta symbolizes the difficulty faced by black leaders who attempted to forge a healthy life with their loved ones while the government aimed its huge resources at destroying their families . . . .

      He talks of how the state has often abandoned or abused the black family with cruel social policies. So now we know  Martin Luther Kings marital infidelity was the states fault! His lack of morals was thrust upon him by the conditions of society.

Mike, as I once knew him, continues to shed light on King's humanity, then defends him as "perhaps the greatest American who ever lived."

I think I'll drink a toast to honor a much revered Confederate General instead.
But, that's just me.

[Lee]

Great people have to be great unifiers.  King and Lee both were.  It could be said that the US constitution is largely plagarized.  And personally, I could care less where King, or anyone else, parks his noodle.  With that said, I don't see how MLK deserves nearly as much tribute or respect as a host of other great people. How about an Edison Day? 

[Monkeyleg]

Martin Luther King had his personal failings. Let anyone here who is without fault come forward and testify.

Despite his personal failings, MLK put a very human and dignified face forward for the civil rights movements. He was a powerful speaker, and a born leader.

Some younger APS members may view him through the filter of the inheritors of his position, such as Jesse Jackson. But Jackson is no leader. He's a common thief and shake-down artist.

For most of us who came of age when Martin Luther King was active, he was a very powerful force.

As a pimple-faced suburban teenager, I didn't know what went on in Selma, or Birmingham, or even on the north side of my own city.

MLK opened my eyes.

I would next propose that congress establish Charlton Heston Day as a national holiday.

We can go shooting, and the anti's can go light candles, pet their cats, or whatever they do when anti's get depressed.

[natedog]

One of the Koolest things I have heard in my life is the fact that here in AloBammo, there is a bit of a backlash w/r/t Reverend Doctah Mutton Loofah DeKang day.

You see, here at civil rights Ground Zero, there has been a small but steadily growing number of municipalities and ruralities (?) which are choosing to celebrate the birthday of one Robert E. Lee on the Monday usually dedicated to the more celebrated civil rights hero.

A new book by a school friend of mine, entitled "I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. (Free Press, 2000)." Dr. Michael Eric Dyson is now walking in the steps of Louis Farrakhan, and he inexplicably felt obligated to throw the floodlight upon the more unsavory elements of Kings life. For example:

   1. Kings critics have long noted that much of the civil rights leaders academic writings were plagiarized. Dyson concedes the point, but justifies the conduct by suggesting that this tendency had its roots in a black tradition of borrowing and expanding the ideas of other people.

      He contends that Kings plagiarism at school is perhaps a sad symptom of his response to the racial times in which he matured. And so, King stole from the writings of others because of his black heritage. But what of the thousands of honest black students who never stooped to literary thievery? How did they overcome their tradition?

   2. It is widely known that King was a womanizing adulterer. Again, Dyson comes to the leaders defense. He asserts that the reformers relationship with Coretta symbolizes the difficulty faced by black leaders who attempted to forge a healthy life with their loved ones while the government aimed its huge resources at destroying their families . . . .

      He talks of how the state has often abandoned or abused the black family with cruel social policies. So now we know  Martin Luther Kings marital infidelity was the states fault! His lack of morals was thrust upon him by the conditions of society.

Mike, as I once knew him, continues to shed light on King's humanity, then defends him as "perhaps the greatest American who ever lived."

I think I'll drink a toast to honor a much revered Confederate General instead.
But, that's just me.

And most of the founding fathers owned slaves. Such a black mark doesn't change the fact that they did great things.


To be honest, every person I've met who puts effort into character assasinating MLK has certain "ulterior motives".

[LadySmith]

I once put down my volume of DuBois when I realized it was February (Black History Month).  Started reading again in March.

Why?

Reverend Doctah Mutton Loofah DeKang

Is that how people in Alabama talk?

You see, here at civil rights Ground Zero, there has been a small but steadily growing number of municipalities and ruralities (?) which are choosing to celebrate the birthday of one Robert E. Lee on the Monday usually dedicated to the more celebrated civil rights hero.

Didn't he lose?
Just asking.

[Perd Hapley]

I would next propose that congress establish Charlton Heston Day as a national holiday.

Much as I'm thankful for Heston's service to his country through the NRA, I wouldn't say his accomplishments stack up next to King's.  Or maybe there's something I don't understand.

I once put down my volume of DuBois when I realized it was February (Black History Month).  Started reading again in March.

Why?

I hate those stupid months.  Didn't want to be participating in that cheesy, ooh-let's-talk-about-Black-history-because-somebody-said-we-should-this-month.  Too much of a non-conformist, I guess.  Besides, how can Feb. be Black History Month when it's also Women's Health Month?

[HankB]

I was in elementary school when MLK was killed. What I most remember about him is that in many places he went, his speeches were often followed closely by his people rioting.

[wingnutx]

Heston was a friend and colleague of MLK's in the civil rights movement. He's still a friend of the King family.

He simply started defending a different civil right.

[cosine]

Heston was a friend and colleague of MLK's in the civil rights movement. He's still a friend of the King family.

Now that's an interesting fact I didn't know!

[Perd Hapley]

I was in elementary school when MLK was killed. What I most remember about him is that in many places he went, his speeches were often followed closely by his people rioting.

Never heard of that before, but I've never really looked into it.  One wonders how often "his people's" demonstrations were called riots or looked like riots after firehoses, dogs, rubber bullets came into play.  Or could it be that groups unrelated to King were rioting? 

[wingnutx]

HERE is a picture of Heston at the march on washington supporting the 1964 Civil Rights Act. (march itself was in 1963)

[wingnutx]

King and his followers were denounced by the likes of Malcom X and Farrakhan because they wouldn't riot and use "any means necessary".

They were still set upon with dogs and firehoses.

[Hugh Damright]

I think of the "civil rights movement" as the second wave of reconstruction ... I have no respect for such things or for people involved in such things. For example, the US said that the 14th "Amendment" empowered them to force integrated schools upon the South ... and that is simply false. And they said that a restaurant on the interstate had to serve blacks or it would impact interstate commerce, then they said that a restaurant that wasn't even near an interstate had to serve blacks or it would impact interstate commerce. President Kennedy was asked if an old woman who had a room to rent could discriminate and rent her room to whom she preferred, and Kennedy said that it dependended on whether or not it impacted interstate commerce.