Dr. Martin Luther King
Just rambling off at the keyboard…
Almost two years ago, I sat down to place finger to key to talk about how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would stand against President Obama’s policies. King was an advocate for the plight of the poor and talked about why America had no moral footing to position itself as the police of another country without addressing the immoral treatment of blacks in America.
On Wednesday, Obama will stand in front of the Lincoln Memorial to give a speech about the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Obama said that King “captured the hopes and dreams of an entire generation…” with his words on that historic day. King ad-libbed the portion of his text where he talked about dreaming of his kids being judged for the content of their character, and not the color of their skin.
It is one of, if not, the most famous speeches in American history.
But going back to my original editorial about my assertion of King’s implied posthumous criticism of Obama; it will be tough to listen to Obama’s words about King on Wednesday without thinking of King’s radical nature.
As we sit, Obama is grappling, or maybe easing, into a decision about striking Syria, or Bashar al-Assad, for using nerve gas to exterminate his own people. Whether the government or rebels used the gas is still up for minor debate, but the U.S. has buttressed its position as the world’s morality police by promising to punish al-Assad, Syria’s president, for using chemical weapons.
Outside of that, Obama has failed to address issues of income inequality, Wall Street cronyism and malfeasance, and etc…, but you get the picture. Obama isn’t King and the only thing they share is the same skin color.
To truly honor the legacy of the march and Dr. King, Obama should announce new policy plans to truly address economic injustice and ways to combat high unemployment amongst black folk.
Dr. King’s so-called dream involved a radical makeover of how America treated and viewed black Americans. That dream didn’t involve a black man acting as a placeholder for the nation’s highest office, that’s not the manifestation of King’s vision of America.
But without knowing Dr. King, my thoughts about him and his view of Obama are strictly opinions and wishes.
Still, it would be nice to know that Obama truly believed in King’s legacy. If so, we may have real economic and racial progress in this nation.
-JH
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- How March on Washington organizer Bayard Rustin was betrayed by Dr Martin Luther King Jr. (blogs.montrealgazette.com)
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