By Jonathan Bert
The Extreme Moderate
January 14, 2009
The Extreme Moderate
January 14, 2009
Thursday, January 15th, will be the 80th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. The following Monday, the 19th, will be celebrated as a national holiday through most of the United States. Too many people fail to understand the importance of this day.
A doctor of theology, King is thought of as a black leader. To most, a black leader is thought of as someone taking every advantage of a photo opportunity, playing the race card even when it doesn’t belong in the deck. America is sick of these people; they even lose respect for the movement. Dr. King wasn’t a black leader. Yes, he was black, and he certainly was a leader; but he was a leader for all of humankind. There are other leaders like him; however, none of them manage to get the airtime the self promoters receive.
King had a message for every man, woman and child on this planet: love one another, echoing the sentiments of other great leaders. He didn’t just advance the black race, he advanced the human race. His principles of love and non-violent resistance have been expoused by the greatest of history’s leaders. They need to be repeated, often, and he repeated them at a time they really needed to be heard.
There may be those that disagree, but I don’t feel a desire for brotherhood is immoderate.
Should you hear someone refer to the upcoming holiday as “Nigger Day”, you are listening to the voice of someone that doesn’t understand how much American society improves every day that we take a step toward achieving Dr. Kings dream. It should be pointed out that niggers are imaginary beings, created not by God, nor Satan; they exist only in the minds of weak and frightened men.
So take this day to remember that once in while there are those born to us that make this great country greater. And maybe observe a moment of silence to think about what we lost that day in Memphis.
“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. “
18 comments:
Well said, Jonathan. The title makes me uncomfortable, as it should. Truly great men lead all the people, not one group or another. And too many "leaders" are riding the coattails of the real ones.
Powerful statement.
Nice piece Jonathan. You're absolute right. He was larger than his blackness.
Very few people, including most blacks, realize that the real force behind the movement was Bayard Rustin. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin].
There is a famous story about the King household being threatened with violence, and Dr. King was prepared to meet violence with violence in the name of protecting his family. Rustin stopped him and explained how the power of non-violence was stronger than the power of violence, and the rest is history. It's a powerful story.
One other thing. I never quite figured out why we get so worked up on the use of purportedly negative labels or symptoms, though powerful they may be. Congratulations on having the guts to use a poltically incorrect term. It's clear that there is anything but malice behind your use of the term.
I have often said that if folks spent as much time and energy improving the health, nutrition, or education of blacks as they have spent trying to stamp out the N word and the Confderate flag, it would have been time better spent. I believe in putting engery into substantive changes, not symbolic ones.
Nobody should use the "N-word" except to condemn it. People that say some can use the word and that others can't because of race are racist. I am sick of hearing it, and it is especially disconcerting when the word is used to describe a personal hero.
I was unaware of Bayard Rustin's story. Please follow the link provided by the Logistician, it is quite interesting. Thank you.
It's funny when a Country stops recognizing Easter and replaces it with a National Holiday for someone who is no different than you, me or any other person walking down the street.
It's because he was black, nothing more. The blacks complained enough and got their way, they always do.
They already milk the government out of billions through food stamps, welfare, section 8 and HUD housing, Pretty soon they will get free health care!
Keep having babies, and draining the economy, maybe you'll get a national holiday too!
happy nigger day
99.9% still niggers! Why? They truely hold a never ending grudge for being enslaved! Have a great day
NIGGER FORTUNE COOKIE: A piece of cornbread with a food stamp in the middle of it.
I'm an Alabama nigger and I wanna be free to hell the naacp.
I wanna eat where the white folks eat because I'm white on the bottom of my feet.
You say "niggers are imaginary beings, created not by God, nor Satan; they exist only in the minds of weak and frightened men."
Perhaps thats true in Wisconsin but like the "Alabama Nigger" above you may notice that isn't so true down south. It's a little disgusting to read this from a white Cheesehead, I will opt to believe you are an extreme liberal from California. You sound like a crazy hippie.
Nigger Day!!!!! Dumb asses, go back to work.
Come threw sum of the SC ghetto's and THEN tell me "it ain't nigger day" the majority of blacks around here have done nothing but run the place into the ground with their robbery, rapings, graffiti, drugs, and poorly maintained living conditions. Martin Luther King was an idiot for thinking his dream would ever come to pass, why would any decent white man ever want to hold hands with the likes of that?? And while I'm not oblivious to the white trash of society, there's no denying that they're greatly out numbered by the niggers of it, it's just in their nature to act ghetto and ain't no dream gonna change that.
Nigger Day: once a year in January porch monkeys get thier own holiday. Oh damn I forgot about kwanzaa, why is nigger day more celebrated/recognised by the monkeys than kwanzaa?
Evidently not many know that the word nigger is derived from negro meaning the color black
I've been in slavery paying for your foodstamps and Medicare when do i get a holiday
Presidents day is now big nigger day
When is honky day? We have a nigger day but no white day. That's because niggers and their white counterparts demand special help and attention. This results in the opposite of its intention, of course.
The blacks seem to forget that slavery started when other blacks tribes captured and sold them. Slavery was started by blacks. I guess it is also the white mans fault that 70% of black kids don't know their father.
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