On Martin Luther King Day
{NOTE: This is a slightly-edited version of a previous post.]
I have some trouble with the hagiography of Martin Luther King. Yes, he was a great man who did a great thing for which he should be duly honored. He was an inspirational figure in the non-violent civil rights movement in this country, as well as a remarkable speaker, and a very brave man.
It was King’s strong personal qualities of leadership, and what George H.W. Bush might rightly call “the vision thing,” that enabled King to bring together so many people to peacefully demonstrate in furtherance of a lofty and necessary goal—that of ending discrimination against blacks in this country.
As for the more problematic aspects of his life—well, I think they can be summed up by saying that King was a flawed human being. In other words, a human being. Perhaps MLK himself would be the first to agree; he was a preacher, after all, and he knew a lot about human sin and error. It’s pretty much certain he was a philanderer as well as a plagiarist, and in later life he seemed to veer ever more leftward (some think that’s a feature, not a bug).
Does that diminish his achievement? I don’t think so. I’ve always been more interested in real human beings who accomplish great things despite their own weaknesses than I am in a pretended (and mostly unachievable) perfection.
[NOTE: One thing that’s long amazed me is that King was so young when he was assassinated. At the time I perceived him as an older man in his 50s, but he was actually a mere 39 years old. If he were alive today, he would only have just turned 88 yesterday.]
That’s pretty much my take on MLK.
He put his life on the line when liberal activism was far more than virtue signaling.
I doubt those who weren’t around for the sixties can get what a disaster MLK’s assassination was — especially bookended by JFK and RFK. The riots went on for a week afterward.
I don’t go for the hagiography of MLK either, but he was a key leader at a critical time and his loss to violence was tragic for America.
King was a man who changed history for the better……….in spite of his flaws.
Similar men in recent memory have been Winston Churchill, George Patton, Harry Truman, and Ronald Reagan. Each had different strengths and weaknesses. Each had plenty of enemies and detractors. Each made a lasting impression and an indelible mark on history.
Unfortunately, because of human nature, the good things they accomplished have not been lasting in nature. In spite of impressive gains, the civil rights struggle continues. In spite of the end of WWII and the Cold War, international disagreements and conflict continue. Capitalism and free markets are still under attack.
The journey of the human race is a cycle of gradual improvements in knowledge, understanding, and tolerance followed by regression. It is only in looking back seven or eight thousand years that we can see how far we have come towards being more civilized and tolerant. The cycles will continue. As long as great men, even flawed great men, continue to appear, there is hope for us.
Nice nod to the Alt Right — I’m gonna write a nice piece about an American icon who I’m sick to death about hearing about one day out of the year. Nice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
End [class] diversity schemes today.
Jesse:
Nice failed attempt to twist the meaning and message of the post.
The notable thing at the time of MLK’s assassination was how “unhip” he had become by then within the civil rights movement. The Black Panthers, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown — soon to be followed by George Jackson, Angela Davis and Huey Newton — these were the cutting-edge figures at that time, all of whom had some connection to violence.
King was in Memphis trying to drum up interest in a garbagemen’s strike, if my memory is correct. Nobody was too interested in him right then, until he was shot. His record of nonviolent, inspiring rhetoric made him a much more suitable martyr than would have been the case had say, Bobby Seale or Eldridge Cleaver been killed instead.
miklos000rosza Says:
January 16th, 2017 at 8:59 pm
The notable thing at the time of MLK’s assassination was how “unhip” he had become by then within the civil rights movement. …
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It is beyond tragic that King had no successor in the non-violent, slower-moving but ultimately more likely to succeed, wing of civil rights activism.
The decline of the black community under the aegis of the violent, or corrupt, leaders the majority accepted might be analogous to what would have happened to the US revolution if Washington had been assassinated after Valley Forge and replaced by Benedict Arnold.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/01/reporters-beg-martin-luther-king-iii-to-denounce-trump.php
The son of the dominant Civil Rights icon chooses his phrasing very carefully, as should be expected. MLK III is pushing for a free, national, photo ID for voting (despite Rand Paul’s fears this is not a bad idea) and want to enlist Trump’s support.
Notice what goes unsaid here: The left cannot denounce him for seeking to disenfranchise voters by making them identify themselves at the ballot-box, as they routinely do Republicans. BUT who primarily participates illegally from the lack of secure ID in elections (other than the walking dead)? It’s not black people.
Dots. Connect. Some assembly required.
You won’t see these stories on CNN:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/16/national-black-leaders-condemn-promotion-civil-unrest-trump/
CAAP’s president is also inviting Rev. Al Sharpton and his organization, the National Action Network, to a “dialogue” to “discuss critical issues related to the future of the African American community.”
Owens observes he would like Rev. Sharpton to “consider discussing the disastrous policies his office has sometimes promoted—policies that serve to entrap blacks and minorities in a cycle of dependency and require their allegiance to a party and system that does not serve their interests.”
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Maybe they are starting to consider Trump’s invitation to ponder “what the hell they have to lose” supporting him.
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2017/01/16/jim-brown-trump-won-fair-and-square-im-going-to-support-him-as-president/
“[Trump] won, in my opinion, fair and square, and I’m going to support him as president of the United States,” Brown told host Stuart Varney.
He also said in the interview, “When you win against all odds and you defeat those who are against you – and I was for Hillary so I’m one of those who Mr. Trump defeated – but he is the president-elect of the United States, I’m a citizen. I’m not asking him to do everything. I’m going to pitch in and do some of the things that I can do with the like-minded people that I represent.”
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One of the very few who have not backed down to the protesters.
Another remarkable thing to today’s audience is that King was not considered the “star” of the big march on Washington in 1963. He was noted as having spoken, but the “I have a dream” speech was not even mentioned in most news accounts. Life magazine had a photo of King but didn’t mention the speech.
But since there wasn’t that much archival film of him speaking, after he was killed the networks pulled out the Dream speech, and it became his iconic moment.
“Does that diminish his achievement? I don’t think so. I’ve always been more interested in real human beings who accomplish great things despite their own weaknesses than I am in a pretended (and mostly unachievable) perfection.” – Neo
This, and I’ll take JJ’s good comment one step further…
Many want to dismiss the Founding Fathers’ achievement(s), because some were white male slave holders.
Not sure about their individual views on slavery, even though they participated in it, and didn’t actively oppose it, to my knowledge.
But, they did have great foresight to set a foundation within our boundaries that would eventually be the basis for emancipation, universal suffrage, capitalism, etc..
Flawed individuals can achieve great things.
This leaves the door open for trump, and why it is worthwhile waiting to see.