Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)
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The greatest American to have ever lived.
If Dr. King had lived he would be 81 today, which is younger than my three living grandparents. Amazing.
23 Responses to “Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
An otherwise bright friend of mine referred to today as “Columbus Day” in an email. Yes, we do need to be reminded. Every year.
I agree, Oliver. I always call MLK The Greatest American Citizen of All Time.
Damn! He sounds like a Right Wing Conservative!
Personally, I always refer to him as “the man who saved us from Civil War II”.
He sounds like a Right Wing Conservative!
That explains why the conservatives stood shoulder to shoulder with Dr. King, while the liberals turned the fire hoses and dogs on them.
Wait.
Is there any limit to conservative delusion and attempts to rewrite history with themselves re-cast as the heroes?
Nope. See Joaquin above.
The lack of conservative whining about someone other than a founder being called the greatest American is as impressive as it is astonishing.
Wait.
Suck ours too, Josette.
I’m sure that sometime today some wingnut will bring up the fact that Democrats made up the bulk of opposition to Civil Rights legislation, and that the GOP was a significant part of the supporters. That’s true. However…they always leave out two inconvenient truths: 1) The Republicans were much more moderate than today, and 2) the Dems were still saddled with the old-line Dixie segregagtionists. It wasn’t until Nixon and the Southern Strategy that the GOP began its march toward radicalization.
Many of the same righties who’ve been trying to co-opt Dr. King’s message were opposed to his birthday becoming a holiday.
Reagan was a Founder?
He was talking about God, individual responsibility, and equality.
I wonder how MLK would view:
Welfare.
Abortion.
Affirmative Action.
The attack on ‘Under God’
The attack on the Ten Commandments.
Just saying…………………
Affirmative action? Let’s go to the man himself-
*Ahem*
Whenever the issue of compensatory treatment for the Negro is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree; but he should ask nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic.
And though this isn’t quite affirmative action, it certainly does count as income redistribution.
In an interview conducted for Playboy in 1965, he said that granting black Americans only equality could not realistically close the economic gap between them and whites. King said that he did not seek a full restitution of wages lost to slavery, which he believed impossible, but proposed a government compensatory program of US$50 billion over ten years to all disadvantaged groups. He posited that “the money spent would be more than amply justified by the benefits that would accrue to the nation through a spectacular decline in school dropouts, family breakups, crime rates, illegitimacy, swollen relief rolls, rioting and other social evils
But heck, why listen to the man’s actual words when you can just invent a more convenient and compelling version of him in your head?
And remember the Conservative credo- he might not have said it, but he should have, and that’s good enough for me!
My grandmother is 92 and she was there in Montgomery when they started the bus boycott. She remember how everyone (the black community and some whites) came together to give rides to one another. My grandmother is not the one to be an activist, so when I asked her how she felt about it she said that it was just something that had to be done.
She even got to meet Martin Luther King for a brief second doing a march where he said,”We’re happy to have you here, sista” while shaking her hand. She remember his words till this day. Makes me feel proud that someone in my family took part in history.
The founders were great, but unlike MLK many of them owned people.
The attack on ‘Under God’
The attack on the Ten Commandments.
Oh fucking please. Your fables are not under attack by anyone. Grow a pair, boy.
Just because it’s not state sanctioned doesn’t mean they are under attack.
You need to lay of the Dildo Reilly talking points…it really makes you much dumber than you already are
See Randy Brown’s statement above.
That’s a wonderful story. Many blessings to you and yours.
asdflkasjdfljk said:
MLK was a republican, fyi.
Do you have any proof of that?
I repeat: DO YOU HAVE ANY PROOF OF THAT??!!
If so, let’s see it. CITE, motherfucker!!
MLK was stridently anti-war. He was also pro-union, and IIRC he was in Memphis that week in 1968 to support striking garbage workers.
STILL want to claim Dr. King for the GOP?
It was on a billboard, so it MUST be true!
According to the wingnut record books, the Republicans traded MLK to the Dems for the Dixiecrats and a second round draft choice. They credit Coach Nixon for that one.
Thank you. I will my granny your blessings.
Sorry meant to say, “I will pass your blessings to my granny.”
I just don’t know how my words are getting all mixed up. HA HA
I would say that as a tribute to the diversity of America, and the virtually omni (poly) ethnic nature of its population, there can’t be, nor will there ever be, a single greatest living American.
But if I were to nominate one, I would nominate Dwight D. Eisenhower, who rehabilitated the Lincoln Highway between the Wars, led the Allied Forces to victory in Europe, then rather than resting on his laurels, became President of Columbia University, then President of the United States, where he had the vision to initiate the Interstate Highway, end the Korean War, and keep the “cold war” from turning hot. He also presided over the incredibly important, though largely forgotten, International Geophysical Year.
This is not to say that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. could NOT have done similarly great things, but he simply did not live long enough.