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.
I am not sure how those who established the memorial could really reflect the determination or passion nor the blood spilt of King. My limited experience says that which is hard won is treated as birthright by later generations, and they raise a hew and cry when they do not receive that which they have not worked for.