MLK Jr. Remembered

I've always had a high opinion of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or at least since I was a boy. He did many good things, but he was far from the spotless icon he has become in our time.

To his credit his strategy was peaceful. Historically speaking, violent racial movements are more common than peaceful racial movements. To some extent I believe this was influenced by his background with the Bible.

Dr. King should be honored, I agree, but let's not pretend everything about him was perfect. It is worth noting wikipedia has scrubbed all the unseemly aspects of his story. Let's not try to hide his faults, because he did have them.

To put it bluntly, I have a problem with his promiscuity during his marriage[1]. We are all human, and I understand that. To some extent, though, I wonder if a black person who was more faithful to his wife would make a more wholesome example for children.

He was also a believer in socialism. He thought the government could wipe out poverty just like medicine had wiped out small pox or polio.

If he had further allowed his preaching to guide his civil rights work, he would have considered Christ's promise to the poor, that they would always have the generosity and charity of the Church. Instead, Dr. King saw the poor as a strain on humanity that needed to be moved along into higher, snobbier income brackets.

Dr. King was a bright beacon in contrast to the buffoons and shadowy figures that ended up succeeding him. I doubt Dr. King was out to find "a civil rights career" I think he was just looking out for the folks in his congregation. I can't say the same thing about people like Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson.

Many of the subsequent civil rights leaders carry around the title, "The Reverened..." almost as though it is a way of tricking people into respecting them. I don't think this was the style of Dr. King at all.

Another shortcoming of his work was his hesitance to identify the difference between obeying government laws and actually caring about one's neighbor. In my day black children and white children were allowed to go to school together, and that is as much of a political achievement as ever. But do people really care for those who are black any more than they would have as a result of the legislation? I am inclined to think they do not.

Much of Dr. King's work remains to be done. In Hawaii, for example, there are schools where you must be of Hawaiian ancestry or you are not allowed to attend. Just because Hawaiians are a minority and many of them are poor, it doesn't give them a pass to be racists.

Along with Dr. King, it should be remembered that Lyndon Johnson helped enact a large amount of legislation to reverse public discrination against minorities. The Republicans and conservatives of that time were instrumental in helping push this legislation through against the will of the Democrats.

In summary, Dr. King helped end much of the overt racial oppression of African Americans. His personal life, however, had many shortcomings, and it is ultimately the personal sphere were the fight of racism must take place. If people hate individuals of other ethnicities, everything else that can be ensured by the government is for naught.