Posted on 01/20/2003 7:57:30 AM PST by F_Cohen
When Did Martin Luther King Become The Most Important Person In American History?
By Lowell Phillips
Toogood Reports January 20, 2003
Asking is akin to blasphemy? Actually it's worse than that. Posing the question might draw more serious condemnation than standing on the steps of the Vatican and screaming, "There is no G-d!!" Come to mention it, it is far more likely and acceptable for someone to critically examine the Pope, Jesus and the Almighty himself than Martin Luther King. Considering he was a Christian leader, as well as a civil rights leader, he certainly would think this odd.
Wondering aloud about such things makes me a bona fide racist in some eyes. Not at all surprising in a paradoxical, political environment where disagreeing with judging people based on skin color, euphemistically called "affirmative action", somehow makes one a racist. On the contrary, my respect for Mr. King is far purer than that alleged by people who have appropriated and distorted his legacy of race neutrality to justify exactly the opposite. The hysterical or, more likely, calculated reactions aside, these musings in no way should be construed as questioning the correctness of honoring the man. I believe him to be one of the most praiseworthy figures of the 20th century and indeed he should be recognized amongst the greatest Americans in our nation's history. But the question that I have is, at what point, and by what justification did he become THE most important figure in our history?
The fact that this is the position that King now occupies is not really arguable. Surely historians would have something to say about it, but if public remembrances and general reverence are at all indicators, and they're the only meaningful indicators, the debate has been settled. To see this, all we need do is open our eyes and uncover our ears. The observances of his birthday are all encompassing. Businesses, churches, the media and state, federal and local government institutions pause in unison and reflect. Public officials, led by the president, make obligatory statements and attend celebrations in his honor. And perhaps most important to the nation's attitudes, now and in years to come, the education system, private and public, makes a concerted effort to see to it that our youth understands who King was and what he has meant to this country. The same can be said about no one else in our history.
His birthday being a national holiday officially verifies Martin Luther King's historical preeminence. He is the one and only "American" deemed to be deserving of an official day of remembrance. Christopher Columbus still has a federal holiday bearing his name, but with the exception of it being a paid day off, it's largely ignored. As political correctness creeps ever forward and his image increasingly becomes that merely of the commander in the first way of European invaders to the "New World", the future of Columbus Day looks bleak. He was not an American in any event. Though his importance in shaping the modern world was immeasurable, his role in birth of The United States and in forming the democratic principles that guide us is nonexistent.
That's it.
Oh, we do have President's Day, but it is likewise remembered as a day off to the few people that get it, rather than anything used as an educational opportunity or deserving of ceremony. Actually the third Monday in February officially remains Washington's Birthday according to section 6103(a), title 5 of the United States Code. But since a proclamation by President Richard Nixon in 1971 it has, in effect, been a day to commemorate all past presidents. So we now have a day set aside to honor Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter along with Washington and Lincoln.
Martin Luther King as an image of courage and nobility in the face of hate should never be undervalued. He was steadfast in his nonviolence and eloquence, even as more radical factions in the civil rights movement began to dismiss him. King's assassination canonized him just as Mao-inspired fanatics, and other violent militants, threatened to take control. But he was not the only believer in nonviolence, and despite his charisma, the ultimate victory in the struggle for civil rights is conceivable without him.
It is far less likely that the Civil War would have come about or ended as it did without Abraham Lincoln. It was mainly due to his strength of will and moral convictions that the war evolved from a secession and state's rights conflict to one of a crusade against slavery. Strangely enough, it is many who benefited the most from Lincoln's leadership that have attempted to discard his attitudes and actions. But what can't be denied is that in a time of unimaginable bloodshed and with the Union faltering he rebuilt the moral underpinnings of the war effort. Though the Emancipation Proclamation freed not a single slave, making it changed the course of the nation. And it made Martin Luther King, as we know him, possible. King paid homage to this in the first lines of his "I have a dream speech",
"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity."
Just as Lincoln made King possible, so too did George Washington make Lincoln possible. It is all but unimaginable that the War of Independence could have been won, the constitution could have been ratified, or that the presidency would have evolved as it has without him. And here again King's victories centuries later would not have come to pass. Washington's image has suffered greatly by a recent focus solely on the fact that he was a slaveholder. No one should be above scrutiny, but Washington was no lover of slavery and expressed his wish to have "a plan adopted for the abolition" of the institution.
No less a liberal outlet than PBS recognizes this:
"He possessed and displayed in his life courage, self-control, justice, judgment and an array of other virtues in such full harmony and to such a degree, and he surmounted such great challenges in so many circumstances of war and peace, that to see how he lived his life is to see much more vividly what it means to be a man. This is by no means to say that he was flawless any more than Babe Ruth was a perfect baseball player. It is merely to say that, if he had not lived, such greatness could hardly have been believed possible."
And had Washington not lived the greatness of King could hardly have been believed possible.
I don't doubt for a moment that Martin Luther King is deserving of a place of honor in our history. But he is by no means the only or most deserving. There are others that could easily be named from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Franklin and beyond whose shoulders King stood upon to accomplish what he did. And dismissing these men does a disservice to them, to this nation, to our children, and to King as well.
To comment on this article or express your opinion directly to the author, you are invited to e-mail Lowell at lfpphillips@yahoo.com .
in point of fact, he would rather have had a day of re-conciliation than all thios "jumping around", done by people who did NOT know him.
FRee dixie,sw
The MLK holiday saved some lives. The earthquake which hit the L.A. area on January 17, 1994, was on the MLK holiday, which meant that the traffic on the freeways was unusually sparse for that time of day on a Monday. A few people were killed when part of a freeway collapsed; a lot more might have been killed if it had been a normal workday with heavy traffic.
If you dont celebrate these holidays its because of your own choosing. Every other Christian celebrates them without any difficulty. Apparently, you are just pissed that they are government sanctioned holidays. Since when is government acceptance of your holidays necessary before they are special for you.
Be careful, your're only partly right. Emacipation Proclamation only freed slaves in the slave states that were in revolt against the Union. Slaves in those states that remained in the Union were not freed until after the war following a constitutional ammendment (14th?).
Well, for starters, you can try what we've been doing for over 18 years: Home school.
free dixie,sw
To be fair, how many conservatives did he have knocking on his door to help out and participate in his marches or his organization. He used the help he got from where he was able to get it. Kind of like Reagan accepting money from the Log Cabin Republicans. If they want to support his agenda then he will take their support.
free dixie,sw
Ever wonder where King got the money to go all over the US giving these speeches? He was underwritten by someone. His affairs are also documented, as is the fact that most of his speeches are simply eloquent talks saying, "gimme, gimme, gimme."
However, King has reached that level of legendary status that his name is now an empty vessel, and people fill it with what they want him to stand for.
If I recall correctly King was involved in the Birmingham bus boycott. That aside, Blacks did not have the legal right to stay at a motel, eat at a lunch counter, much less buy a home in a non-Black area until the mid 60's. Even then, they were not always able to do so even though to refuse was against the law. King was the most memorable speaker at the march on Washington prior to the passage of the 64 Civil Rights bill. By 68, he was getting sidetracked into Vietname Anti-War movement.
Conservatives had just as much a role in Civil Rights as did liberals. Who signed the 1957 civil rights act into law? Who ordered Federal Troops to enforce Brown v. Topeka? Which party had over 70% of the congressmen and Senators vote for the 1964 Civil Rights Act?
That was only true in the South.
You protest too much. Christmas is still there whatever the feds call it. Lincoln and Washington got shoved together to save money (a worthy goal). As far as MLK Day, with the percentage of black employment in the federal government and state government for that matter, the entities would have to shut down or cut back whether it was a paid holiday or not.
Since when did MLK become my man. He certainly wasnt back in the 60's when he was still alive but Im not so petty that I refuse to see all the good that he did. What do you want to do lump him in with the Presidents and call it Good Citizens Day... BARF.
I dont get any of these paid holidays so I dont give a damn. I work today and I generally find myself working when the fireworks are going off on the 4th of July. I work when I need to. When I dont work, I dont get paid. Simple as that.
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