MLK Day: Honoring The Wrong Person
-I was not a supporter of making Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday a national holiday. I am still not. If his career had ended the day after his I Have A Dream Speech [August 1963], I probably would have had no problem with having him being the one black honored with a holiday, but Rev. King went on to embrace Socialism and that disqualifies him from being so honored with an American Holiday. Socialism is the exact opposite of everything America stands for and to esteem any person holding such views is a betrayal of The Founding.
Much better to have paid homage to Frederick Douglass, another brave man like Rev. King, but who embraced solidly American values and never wavered in his belief in the goodness of The United States Of America. My favorite quote of his:
A man’s rights rest in three boxes. The ballot box, jury box and the cartridge box.
That statement could have come from The Duke or one of The Founding Fathers or from any Patriot.
Some more from Mr. Douglass:
…The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us… I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are worm-eaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! … And if the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! … your interference is doing him positive injury.
And…
No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.
[Bob: A damn good argument against Socialism.]
And…
The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.
And…
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.
And…
From the first I saw no chance of bettering the condition of the freedman until he should cease to be merely a freedman and should become a citizen.
And…
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what a people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. Men may not get all they pay for in this world; but they must pay for all they get. If we ever get free from all the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and, if needs be, by our lives, and the lives of others.
Finally…
The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.
While he was a strong supporter of minority and women’s rights, Mr. Douglass never sought the solutions to the problems he wanted to correct in the vile regions of Leftism.
Why aren’t we honoring this American Patriot? Perhaps it is because the Left has controlled the American Narrative for so long in this country, being incredibly successful in making we whites feel guilty and in doing a great job in whitewashing Rev. King’s later years.
-Representative Allen West has issued a damn fine MLK Day message that, although he does not question the appropriateness of honoring a Socialist, nevertheless resonates with Right Reason and much Truth. A highlight [tip of the fedora to Memeorandum]:
With all of this progress, why is it that we continue to hear charges of racism emanating from the left, and most disturbingly, from the White House itself? It seems anytime there is criticism of the President or any of his black members of his administration, such as Attorney General Eric Holder, that criticism is decried as racist.
Mr. Holder recently said of his critics, “This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him, both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American.” In other words, he insinuated Republicans — along with Conservatives and Tea Party members — are incapable of judging anyone solely by their character, something I take very personally.
Mr. Holder and others need to know, the criticism of the President is not of his person, but of his policies, which have clearly failed our nation–and most tragically of all in this supposedly post-racial period –have failed the black community.
…
As we proceed into this general election cycle, it would be a disgrace if Mr. Holder’s comment is the first salvo in the upcoming campaign to deflect honest assessment of the President’s performance in office. This campaign must be about ideas, policy and the direction of this country, and the President must not hide behind a curtain of so-called racial bias.
All Americans, black or white – and every shade in between – must be allowed to voice their opinions, level their criticisms and engage in candid discussion without fear of being labeled “racist” simply because of the color of their skin. This is precisely what Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of so eloquently, and what we celebrate today.
Exactly…but, hey, what do I know: I’m a raaaaacist.
Why isn’t there a Jonus Saulk day?
A fine post, Bob. I learned a lot. Thanks.
BOB! Great post! I linked you http://thedaleygator.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/mlk-day-an-opposing-view/, and no doubt will be called RAAAAACIST for what I say too, Oh well!
I’m used to it as I’m sure you are too.
If the opinions expressed on this site constitute any sort of “right wing conspriacy” or right wing anything at all, Amerika is screwed. Hey Bob, you don’t have to worry about the DHS being interested in monitoring anything here, you are safely in the region of tolerated and controlled opposition.