"I am in complete sympathy with our president who senses that America has a unique and special role to play in this world. We cannot shirk responsibilities that are clearly ours.
I cannot help but think that it is not an accident that the United States stands so alone, despite many other nations that claim to have similar commitments to and stakes in civility and liberty. The way they act makes clear that they don't.
The truths that Dr. King articulated in so crystal clear a way in 1963 continue to resound today. Freedom is what this country is about. We have no choice. It is our heritage. We thrive and prosper from it. And we cannot avoid the responsibilities that come with it in our engagement with the rest of the world."
That King was the right man at the right hour to speak out against injustice is undeniable. It does however bother me that others put words into his mouth, ascribing to him opinions that have more place in today's world than King's. Like Congressman John Lewis yesterday on CBS' FreeSpeech segment....
"Today, we celebrate and commemorate the life of a man of peace, a man of love, and a man of nonviolence who must be considered one of the founding fathers of the new America.
"Because of his dedication to the cause of justice and his fight for human dignity, he wrestled with the soul of this nation and pushed it to reach for its greatest destiny. He injected new meaning into the very veins of our society and gave his life to make our democracy real.
"What he did, what he said, and what he sacrificed inspired an entire generation, and its power still rings throughout this nation and the world. We are a different country today; we are a better people today because Martin Luther King, Jr. believed in the power of love over hate, the power of nonviolence over violence, and the power of peace over war.
"If Dr. King could speak today, he would tell us to stop this madness and bring our troops home. He would say that war is an obsolete, ineffective tool of our foreign policy. He would say that we must struggle against injustice, we must stand up for what we believe, but if peace is our goal, then peaceful ends can only be secured by peaceful means. He would say we must find a way to live together as brothers and sisters, or we will perish as fools."
And yet the generation Dr. King inspired went on to raise uneducated, selfish, malcontents, devoid of any dream other than drugs, cash, and booty-calls. And without a clear leader to take King's place they looked to lesser men... base men, and so looked to fools for inspiration.
The disconnect between then and now is stark. Especially in light of men like Bill Cosby who are trying-- and receiving scorn from much of the people he is trying to reach --to renew and restore a sense of honest pride within the African-American community. But with such silliness as Kwaanza, and evil men like Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan, and deceivers and enablers within the Democratic Party.... What chance do they have of returning to King's dream? As opposed to the whore they've chased since his death?
Harsh words, you say? Dishonest? Mean-spirited? A dishonor to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King? If it barks and turns to its own vomit, chances are it's a dog. And calling it such is neither dishonest nor mean-spirited. And no dog is dishonored when called by name.
If anything, these so-called 'followers of Dr. King' do more dishonor to Dr. King's memory and legacy than one post on an otherwise insignificant blog.
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Comment if you wish, but the days of anything goes are gone.
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But whose was duty to carry it on; ‘Black people’ or ‘Americans’?
As to the topic here, Parker is right that "The Hijacking of King's Dream" is a problem. She's just got it backwards.
Those who would proudly proclaim "The truths that Dr. King articulated in so crystal clear a way in 1963 continue to resound today." and then use King to support this war is sickening.
King was against war. He was a peacemaker and a pacifist. It is not King's family and friends who have it wrong, but rather politicians and pundits who'd pretend to honor King and then twist his words to the opposite of what he stood for.
But then, you knew that was my position, I suppose.
Is this person - are you - suggesting that King wouldn't have been opposed to this invasion?
It never ceases to disappoint me the way seemingly intelligent people, both black and white, have misinterpreted King's message.
He worked to establish equality for Blacks, not superiority. Yet many blacks seem to think that King wanted blacks to become the master race.
For example, an article was published last year in honor of MLK day in a local paper, which I read, and because I was so outraged by the claim that America hadn't learned much since King died, I wrote a letter to the editor
to answer it.
My local newspaper published my letter and I thought about reprinting it on my blog this year, but decided against it.
Name one.
Yes, it is EVERY American's responsibility to maintain King's Dream, but it is even MORE the responsibility of those seeking justice to stay focused on their goal. The African-American community, by and large, have failed to do this. The U.S. government hasn't helped with its policy of breaking up families to receive government assistance...
With the African-American community currently the way it is... The Dream has all but been replaced with a culture of self-loathing, and personal destruction.
And except for those who genuinely knew Dr. King, everyone else (including some of those who DID know him) have ceased to fight for the same Dream as Dr. King, choosing instead to go a-whoring after strange, devisive, and destructive dreams.
But then, that's my opinion.
This describes Congressman John Lewis, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farakhan, and many many others... Cynthia McKinney. To be still in search of King's dream, today, 40 years later, speaks volumes about what the African-American community AND the rest of this nation have done since his death... nothing of substance. What HAS been done is our collective turning AWAY from the dream...
But back to the point, which is the moral responsibility this nation has toward Iraq. WE have forgotten how to think for ourselves, relying instead on agenda driven media and politicians to inform us of the 'FACTS'. We have forgotten how to tear apart the argument to get to the truth-- and truth is, it is not to media's advantage TO tell the truth, not if they intend on seeing their own agenda come to fruition.
Iraq is experiencing difficulties, but it has not descended to the level of a Civil War... Not yet. But were we to pull out of Iraq, as Democrats would like (and 'Phased-Redeployment' is synonymous with pulling out), the situation there WOULD collapse, and we would indeed see a Civil War in Iraq, which would spill over into a broader regional conflict. Think the death toll for Iraqis is high now? Should we pull out of Iraq without doing our level best to see the new Iraqi government succeed, we will be guilty of an even greater moral failing. There is no 'good' option here. If we stay, more U.S. soldiers will die. If we pull out U.S. Citizens will die... in America.
Bin Laden himself said that the moment he saw America tuck tail and run after the 'Black Hawk Down' incident in Mogadishu, he knew America didn't have the stomach to fight... that America was a paper tiger. Naturally, America takes umbrage at that description, yet America is bending over backward to be just that... A paper tiger, with no stomach to fight.
If we leave Iraq now, we will not only lose this war, but every soldier who died prosecuting it WILL have died in vain. And America will lose ALL credibility in the world. We will have all but painted the bullseye on every American's back, and we will not be safe ANYWHERE... especially in America.
Right or wrong, to leave Iraq would be a greater moral failing. Dr. King, for all he was a man of peace, and would probably have condemned the war, would surely recognize our responsibility in Iraq, to fix what we've broken. Look at how broken this country still is after CHOOSING to lose in Vietnam. Choosing to lose in Iraq may well break this nation beyond any hope of repair...
Assuming we are not already there.
King, who said, "Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows." and "Nothing good ever comes of violence."
On Viet Nam, King said:
I am convinced that it is one of the most unjust wars that has ever been fought in the history of the world. Our involvement in the war in Vietnam has torn up the Geneva Accord. It has strengthened the military-industrial complex; it has strengthened the forces of reaction in our nation...
Not only that, it has put us in a position of appearing to the world as an arrogant nation...
The judgment of God is upon us today... We have alienated ourselves from other nations so we end up morally and politically isolated in the world. There is not a single major ally of the United States of America that would dare send a troop to Vietnam, and so the only friends that we have now are a few client-nations like Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and a few others.
Sound familiar?
Yes, we can be fairly confident of King's position on this war. And he'd be right.
"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."
There comes a time when men MUST fight.
I agree that there comes a time when people must fight. I just refuse to kill innocent people to do it.
THAT is what King and Gandhi and the Quakers and the Anabaptists and the early church and Jesus teach. That is what we all think that Jesus commands us to do when He commands us to overcome evil with good.
It's always easy to say, "Yeah, I would. But these Muslim extremists [communists, infidels, Roman centurions, name your boogeymen] are different. The only thing they understand is the Sword!" And we can take comfort in the fact that, sometimes in order to kill monsters, we must kill innocent people.
King rejected that. I reject that.