Replies

Thank you LadyJane.

Please bear with me as I make comments about things I know you are aware of. I still think it's important for people to read comments like this from time to time, so here goes.

I had heard of some of these things before, and I think you are right to address them. I had heard of the plagiarism before, but the particulars had slipped my mind. As for the FBI following people, in those days you weren’t anyone of note if the FBI wasn’t on your tail. Hoover had a file on many public figures. I’ve heard of the womanizing King had done also. It was another blight on his image. As for his connection to Communist figures, that may be true. With the Cold War at it's zenith, I think it was somewhat of a national security concern. It was worth keeping an eye on IMO.

I guess the point for me is this. Even if King was perfect, Washington was our Founding Father. King, while a highly visible flawed and yet also positive public figure wasn’t the only person trying to win civil rights for Blacks. You (well maybe not you, but most people) would be amazed to know how many White public figures and people behind the scenes were working for civil rights and walking with King on those marches.

He made some important speeches, and participated in a movement to achieve civil rights for blacks. Other Black public figures advocated for the same thing. Civil rights attorneys were hard at work. Most of them were probably White civil rights attorneys.

I'm not here to trash King, because I do respect what he was trying to achieve. At the same time, I do recognize that the Left in the United States adopted him as a cause celebre, after in many instances fighting against what he wanted to achieve for more than one hundred years. And they did it purely for public relations purposes. Who for the most part were the slave owners going back hundreds of years? In most instances they were the Dixie Democrats. The names of George Wallace, Orval Faubus, and Robert Byrd come to mind, when you think about the highly visible champions of racism against Blacks in King's day. Peope who think the Demcrats have always championed civil rights, are dead wrong. Byrd, an ex klan leader and recruiter served as a Democrat in the U. S. Congress into the 21st Century.

Civil rights bills would never have been passed, without a significant contribution of Republican politicians. Left to the Democrats, this Legislation was dead in a Democrat majority Congress.

I love Ronald Reagan, and what he did for our nation. What most folks don't think about is that he brought about the end of the Cold War without firing a shot. That was a monumental achievement for humanity, presenting freedom hundreds of millions of humans across Europe and Asia. He caused a number of nations in Central and South America to leave communist governments or movements also. That’s far superior to what King helped achieve.

Numerous entire nations exist today, because of Ronald Reagan. Some of them drew up their Founding Documents based on ours. Ronald Reagan is a hero to the citizens of those nations. Many more nations are free self-determining nations because of Ronald Reagan, and they reverence him also.

Because of Ronald Reagan, the lives of people on at least four Continents were vastly improved, hundreds of millions given sovereign self-determination for the first time in decades.

Reagan had direct positive impact on the lives of upwards of one billion people on planet earth. Asia, Europe, South America, and North America, benefited from Ronald Reagan. King had direct impact on the lives of a few tens of millions U. S. Citizens. That's not meant to denigrate King. It's merely an attempt to keep things in perspective.

Would I want to see Reagan knock George Washington’s birthday off the calender? No.

In the same way Washington and our Founding Fathers made Ronald Reagan possible, he and they made Martin Luther King possible.

Without our form of government, an MLK would not have been possible. Imagine him trying to participate in the same type of movement in the U. S. S. R., China, or any number of Asian, European, Middle-Eastern, African, or even Central and South American nations.

People really do need to get a grip with regard to King. The memory of him should not be destroyed, but it shouldn't cause folks to supersede more important figures in our nation's rich history either.

Thanks for bearing with me...