MAYBE 'MLK' WAS GREATER THAN WE THOUGHT...
By Kevin Roeten (12/19/06)
Isn't it odd how so many seem to mischaracterize great men... i.e., Dr. Martin Luther King? Most Blacks gravitate towards his existence as something of a 'second coming'. He was likely greater than most are willing to admit, however. But it's time to look at King in something other than a 'black' light.
Let’s look at the facts before the myth. King was a preacher, first and foremost. Leader to the SCLC(Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Dr. King never used the term ‘African-American’. Never was he a member of the ‘NAACP’. He said “Judge not by the color of one’s skin, but by the content of one’s character.” Why do some believe that only applies to one color? He never mentioned the terms ‘quotas’, ‘set-asides’, or ‘diversity’.
Without a doubt, Dr. King came along during one of the worst atrocities ever on fellow Americans. Simply because of the color of their skin, Americans were treated unfairly, unequally, and inhumanely. As anyone brave enough to speak God’s truth would have done, he spoke those famous words quoted above, and was the instigator of the Civil Rights movement. He saw where certain Americans were not being treated as equals, and thankfully succeeded in changing it.
King was a staunch proponent of Black equality, but he did not associate with the ‘NAACP’. CEO Julian Bond’s recent comparison of Republicans to Nazis would likely have generated great disdain from King. It’s more than interesting that a greater percentage of Republicans rather than Democrats voted for civil rights. King never espoused a party--just unequal treatment. He was black, male, and in the right place at the right time. As a result, he was loved by Blacks as a ‘liberator’. If Whites were treated as harshly as Blacks at that time, and the roles would have been reversed, King would have done the exact same thing for Whites as well. He was that kind of person.
He likely realized that ‘labeling’ anyone an ‘African-American’ would have ‘pigeonholed’ an entire group of people to mediocrity at best, and ‘victimhood’ at worst. He understood that there were no ‘hyphenated’ titles in this country, and that we’re all just Americans. He would’ve realized that ‘African-American’ simply denoted a ‘group’ that was treated differently just because of their ethnicity. He fought his entire life against such a curse. He knew that allowing one to simply excel with his/her talents should dictate their outcome. It’s too bad he was not born an Indian in the 1800’s, an Irishman in the early 1900’s, or a Catholic in the 2000’s. King was a man for all seasons and way ahead of his time, no matter what time that was. For that matter, he could have easily been a ‘John the Baptist’, or even an apostle in 30 A.D. But God picked him for the 1960’s, and his skin just happened to be black.
King was always there for the underprivileged, the downtrodden, and the forgotten. Most recently, there was verifiable confirmation about how MLKJr felt about certain issues. Because no other atrocity has killed over 44 million(’73/Roe vs. Wade), support for the aborted very likely would top Dr. King’s list of priorities. Dr. Alveda King(niece) was at the Silent No More rally during the recent March for Life in Washington(DC). She said that King would be marching right alongside the ‘pro-lifers’ if he were alive today.
What might be scary to some is that the above traits don’t seem indicative of a Democrat. But how could that be? He was the leader, the liberator of all black Americans. But in reality, he didn’t take up Democrat principles. He espoused the laws of God, and he spoke out against injustice, no matter the perpetrator. His holiday should mean a lot more than a one-color ‘parade’.
Was King necessarily a saint? He spoke of his support for what he termed ‘democratic socialism’, and bordered on communism in some of his ideas. He had actually left a young Jesse Jackson in charge of his group for a period of time. But he never aligned himself with Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam, or other Civil Rights activists. He never used the words ‘Black Power’. Through every march he was involved in, King’s strategy always centered on nonviolence, unlike most other activists.
For King’s holiday to be celebrated by all, his niche in human events deserves a less ‘monochromatic’ role. Many of those ‘race-baiters’ who came out of the woodwork during ‘MLK’ day know exactly to whom the above statement is referring. King’s dream of a colorblind society was never far from reality, especially with so many actually being colorblind now. It’s too bad many don’t acknowledge a colorblind person when they talk to one…
Kevin Roeten
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