40 years later....

Martin Luther King, jr was assassinated 40 years today. People across the country are remembering this day. I was too young to remember what happened (almost three at the time), so instead of commemorating the day, I will say more about race.

40 years ago, Republicans, particularly Conservatives hated King. People like Pat Buchanan felt that King was a fraud and a con man. Others, like J Edgar Hoover, thought he was a subversive out to destroy America. Given his mission at the time of his death, some African Americans felt he was turning his back on his calling by supporting striking garbage workers in Memphis.

Today, Conservatives sometimes argue that King would not support Affirmative Action. Pick your jaw up off the floor, man. The argument goes like this:

"In his I have a dream speech, Dr. King speaks of people being judged by the content of
their character not the color of their skin."

They also like to portray Dr. King as a dreamer. A great Orator who had a vision for an ideal America that moved beyond racial preferences.

That is a nice try. Dr. King had a vision for America, but he rooted that vision in the hard reality of his time. He stated:

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Those are the words of a man who knew that he was viewed as less than human, that his wife and children were viewed as less than, and that if this country was to move forward, it would need to acknowledge the anger and frustration felt by a people systematically held back for no other reason than a social construct called race. Those are the words of someone who expected, demanded more of his country.

Here we are 40 years after this man's death. Read the speech here and tell me again how inflammatory the words of Jeremiah Wright are.