As
we prepare to thaw in the South, we take this time to remember Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. who would have been 82 tomorrow, January 15.
What would Dr.
King have said about the recent Arizona massacre? The culture of violence
that has come to define America? We can assume he would have been
proud that we the people finally elected an African American President,
but disappointed in the Birthers and Teabaggers and other racist
right-wingers who still judge a man by the color of his skin instead of
the content of his character.
Would he be shocked to find that, 40 years after the major events of
the Civil Rights Movement, our highest-paid media pundits accuse this
president of being a racist and of having a "deep seated hatred of white people?" Or call the President a "Halfrican American," "Magic Negro," the "affirmative action candidate," and suggest a return to the days of segregated buses?
Moving beyond Obama, Rush has suggested NFL games look like skirmishes between the Bloods and the Crips, suggested the NAACP should practice rioting by knocking over liquor stores, and characterized Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson as looking like a composite photo of every wanted criminal.
So while we remember Martin Luther King, and the many
incredible accomplishments of his all-too-short leadership of the Civil
Rights Movement, we should also realize that in the year 2011 some of
our highest-paid and most respected members of society are blatantly,
openly racist.
We still have so far to go.
