"The arc of the moral universe is long, and it points to Mecca."
Posted on 09/05/2010 3:36:42 PM PDT by markomalley
White House planners have mistakenly attributed a quotation to Martin Luther King in the new Oval Office carpet but the original author was in fact a now-forgotten 19th century activist.
Though President Barack Obama would no doubt admire the record of Theodore Parker, a Boston preacher and campaigner against slavery, his aides included the quote in the carpet to honour Dr King.
Among a series of quotes woven into the edge of the new beige carpet are the words: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
Dr King often used the phrase in his campaigns for black rights, which paved the way for the current White House occupant, to emerge as the first black leader of America.
However Dr King never claimed he had come up with it as his own.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Small detail, but is the quote attributed to Dr. King, or does it simply appear on the carpet? If it simply appears, then no harm, no foul.
So now the whole world knows our ‘dear leader’ is a phony and not as smart as a 5th grader.
The other story I read about this subject said “dear leader” has used the phrase before and said it was from MLK. I think it was even in his biography.
It's incorrectly attributed to Dr. King.
So the quote was actually from a “white man”. I bet the Ebonic community has always thought it was from King. Oh well another myth busted.
Of coarse....always someone else's fault. At least they didn't blame Bush this time.
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"The arc of the moral universe is long, and it points to Mecca."
Smartest man in the world.
It isn’t the first time, a hint of plagiarism has met with the King name.
The carpet-biter-in-chief should have gotten this one right.
Correct me if I am wrong.
"he did it again"
Up yours, Barry!
Good thing we have this genius in the WH now.
No the rug doesn’t attribute the quote to Dr. King or anyone else. The problem with the story is that those are King’s words. He paraphrased Parker’s (distant relative of mine)much longer quote
The original said: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.” This is from his 1853 sermon Justice and the Conscience
That’s the original source but it’s different from Doctor Kings words when he paraphrased it: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
There are no names on the carpet, only quotes. At least from the picture posted on another thread. So, nobody should be called on the carpet for this...
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