A Christian Viewpoint

Martin Luther King Jr.

Recently a statue of King was revealed to the public. It is on The National Mall in Washington DC. It is in a place that reflects the greatness of individuals and the sacrifice of the multitude. Great memorials to great presidents and war memorials grace the grounds. It is in a park setting that encourages reflection and contemplation. Does King belong there? The Politically Correct response is yes!

I should say at the beginning that I am not a fan of King. This “prejudice” is not based on the colour of his skin but on my perception of him as a trouble maker. I remember vaguely the images of that time. A mouthy man marching around various cities getting people to resist and cause various kinds of trouble. I formed these opinions looking on the events through the eyes of a child and later as a young teen. It was only a little later, still not yet a man, when I began to see the images of police brutality that the unfairness, the injustice of it all, began to change my heart and my mind.

Black people? The only black people I saw as a child were the images on TV and film. They were never flattering. It would be hard not to be prejudiced toward a black person. I was awash in a sea of white. Not that “blacks” were the sole target of prejudice. Anything outside of the ordinary was looked on with suspicion. That included Asians, Indians and other races and cultures. It also included the Protestant because “everyone” knew they were of the Devil and not to be trusted. One step further, don’t trust the English, while attending classes at a french school. My oh my, the mind of a child growing up in the 50’s was truly a limited thing of limited vision. This view was merely a reflection of the adults around me.

During my highschool years I began to see a broader cross section of humanity. I started to go to school and made my first white protestant friend. As the years rolled by more diversity came into my life. My suspicion was turned into friendships. During those highschool years teen rebellion grew and I tested all the values I grew up with. It was a time in the Western World where a loose life style of anything goes and drugs to boot were a staple in most of our lives. It overturned everything much like the early Christians were accused of overturning the world with their beliefs. Eventually all of the foundations were cracked and broken and a new age emerged. This new age eventually turned into the monstrosity of the Liberal Politically Correct Agenda that will destroy our country and the rest of the West.

Have I digressed? No, not really…

This early part of my life was the time of King’s work. Fewer people are alive today who remember those years first hand. We get a strange view nowadays because history is being projected through a set of filters. It is a liberal, politically correct, scrubbed and sanitized and responsibility deflected understanding of the times these events occurred. King was the Ghandi of those years of struggle. His fight with what he perceived of as injustice, prejudice and the rest of the evils of his time was/is inspiring. His legacy is still being written and his vision is still in the future. Are we today nearer to heaven or closer to hell is dependant upon whom you talk to. For good or for evil, he has left his mark on the world.

Back to the Mall…

The statue, the flanking stones, the wall of quotations, everything is carved out of white granite. It was paid for by the same people he opposed. The same institutions who kept the disenfranchised people under their collective feet. It is a giant white wash of the man and his mission. As I looked on the images of the “honouring” I see none of the ugly struggle of his time. I do not see the passion, determination or sacrifice of this man of principle. Like I said in the beginning, I am not a fan of King, but I am saddened by this memorial and feel it is “a slap in the face.”

It is a Politically Correct Memorial… and that is the saddest thing of all.

Michel Thibodeau has recently won a judgment against Air Canada for failing to provide French language services. News media have jumped all over Michel Thibodeau for standing up for his rights under the official languages act. What must be known about Mr. Thibodeau is that he is a crusader. Most people think of him as a troublemaker but to most French-Canadians he is a defender of their rights. I know, I know, that it is hard for the English speaking community to grasp the concept that Thibodeau is like a minor hero… Small “h.”

When I was a child growing up in Ontario in the 60’s it was not easy for French-Canadians to receive services from the federal government in French. To receive French language services in Ontario government institutions and corporations was very difficult. There was an organization called l’ACFO that took it upon themselves to fight for the rights of French-speaking people in Ontario to receive French language services from government institutions and corporations. I have seen their representatives in action. It was always an uphill struggle. Over time they won hard earned concessions. Eventually, it became a quasi-right for Francophones to receive services from the government in French. It became mandatory in areas of the province, where 10% of the population were French, to receive government services in French.

Let us go back to the birth of the nation. Two major languages were spoken, English and French, in Upper and Lower Canada. These two colonies strove to enter into a union that would benefit both French and English speaking people. In the act of 1867, that made two people one, it was established that in Parliament, the justice system and other government institutions, that services in both languages would be, and have to be, provided. This was a small government with a small reach. As the decades slipped by the size of the federal government increased. Many corporations came into existence and extended the reach of the federal government into the lives of all Canadians. French language services were not guaranteed in this larger mega-government. In 1969 legislation was enacted extending the right for French-speaking Canadians to receive these government services in the French language. But it is not all one-sided, for the law that gave the right to the French-speaking Canadians also enshrined the same right for English-speaking Canadians to receive services in English. This Official Languages Act was amended in 1987. Under the Charter of Rights protection of French and English Canadians were enshrined. Since then, the courts have ruled on various cases and further defined the limits and obligations of the federal government and its Crown corporations to provide services in both languages.

Michel Thibodeau versus Air Canada is an example of the protections given to all Canadians whether they speak English or French. Many people will complain, especially the English-speaking Canadians, that this was unfair. Yet this ruling is the natural outcome based on the long history of two peoples, two cultures, two languages, that united us in the beginning.

The majority of people, English-speaking, want to see an end or at least a revision of the Official Languages Act. They do not wish to live up to the obligations that helped found our country. They think it a nuisance, something that is unfair, fundamentally wrong… Yet it is the one thing that keeps our country strong and united. The sad thing is, most Quebeckers also think it is a nuisance, something unfair, fundamentally wrong! They want to see their French culture thrive. Fortunately for Canada, in the province of Québec, there has never been enough discontent to tear the country in two. Yet I can tell you now, that the whining and complaining that is currently being generated from the results of this court case, is helping the cause of “Separation.” My country is not French and it is not English, it is both. We are two people made one.

Michel Thibodeau? Troublemaker or crusader? A little of both. Annoying? Yes! Yet his nitpicking is important to all those whose major language, and possibly their only language, is French. To others, it was a nuisance suit and he is a nuisance, a continuing drip that sets the nerves on edge. I do not want to praise him, nor do I want to belittle him, he is simply a buzzing fly that is necessary.