If Dr. King Was Still Alive Today

[MrsSpringsteen]

What do you think he would have to say about race relations and racism here in 2008? About other current event topics? What would he say still needs to be accomplished and how would he suggest we go about it?

 

[nathan1977]

Are we closer to or further from the standard of judging people by the content of their character?

 

[CTU2fan]

A little closer (IMO). Not sure if it's actual progress, or just winning a war of attrition as the old bigots grow old and die. But progress, yes.

 

[deep]

As someone that was born in 1955.

I was 10 years old when LBJ signed the voting rights.

So, I will say things are much better than when MLK jr was alive.

So we are closer to that standard, but just like praying for the "end of violence", or "peace on earth" it is a dream to sought but never fully realized.


There is a lot we still can do.


I believe everyone has bias.
Denying it only makes things worse.


I also believe when people use MLK jr's words;
"Judging people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin"

More often than not, they are abusing King’s memory to support their views that there is no more need to work on race issues.

 

[deep]

If Dr. King Was Still Alive Today

Good chance he would be as popular/ or unpopular as Jesse Jackson.


If anyone wants to do a little research, by 1968 many considered him a 'communist" he was advocating against the Viet Nam War.


I am not trying to diminish the memory of MLK jr, one bit.

I believe him to be at the top of the list of most important people of the last century.
I also support 100% all of the issues he raised.

I am just trying to be realistic here.

If JFK had lived would he be more like Jimmy Carter or Ted Kennedy?


I will digress for a comparison
take the young James Dean and the young Brando.
If Brando had died in the car crash would James Dean have turned into the bloated, Larry King kissing aging actor?

Also, let's say if Liz Taylor had died in her 30s would she be the tragic icon,
and Monroe lived on, would she have had 7-8 husbands and an erratic life?

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

DALLAS, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- A Dallas minister who marched with civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said Monday's birthday observance holiday is an insult to his legacy.

The Rev. Peter Johnson, 62, director of the Texas operations for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, told The Dallas Morning News the holiday should be on April 4, the anniversary of the date King was assassinated.

"We have ignored the essence of his life and the horror of his death," said Johnson. "We've allowed white America to escape the guilt of his assassination and we've allowed black America to drift back into a coma."

Johnson said King is considered a martyr by many but said, if he were alive, he would be considered an agitator by many people, the newspaper said.

"We remember him with parades and galas and banquets, things that are really irrelevant and silly regarding Dr. King's legacy," he said. "If we really want to honor Dr. King, we should do something about people who live under bridges. That would be a great tribute."

 

[deep]

I did not mean to sidetrack this thread on MLK jr Day


it is funny, I had to relearn much of what I thought I knew about MLK jr

I was raised in conservative, GOP family - much of the information I received was filtered

I have been and will be listening to many programs on public radio today,
to assist me in remembering some of his many, many contributions.


this should be done often, not just one day a year

 

[JCOSTER]

I'm sure he would do wonderful things today if he were alive.

 

[deep]

Johnson said King is considered a martyr by many but said, if he were alive, he would be considered an agitator by many people, the newspaper said.
"

I do think this is more true than not


For better or worse, MLK jr
can be molded into whatever serves the purpose of the one doing the molding.


A bit like "Jesus"

some use him to condemn some groups
and others use him to defend the same groups

I believe if MLK jr had lived he would have been outraged at the way the 2000 election went down, with blacks being more likely to be disenfranchised


as I stated before he would probably be seen in the same vein as Jesse Jackson

 

[Irvine511]

really, has much changed?

 

[BVS]

 

[2861U2]

King probably wouldn't appreciate Bill Clinton nodding off here.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212008/news/regionalnews/bill_has_a_dream_474243.htm

Watch the video, it's hilarious. I love the watch glance at the very end.

 

[BVS]

Someone's been keeping Bill up to late...

 

[yolland]

Mostly I agree with deep; by the last few years of his life King was clearly expanding his focus to broader nationwide issues of systemic economic inequality, militarism, racial disparities in law enforcement and criminal justice, and even environmental justice, more or less in that order--all issues which are very much still with us. He would doubtless (re-)emphasize that the Civil Rights Act was only the beginning of the journey towards the "Dream." None of which would likely make him "popular," as deep pointed out--and I'd add to the Jackson analogy that the movement King had once been the undisputed leader of had itself become deeply divided over how best to proceed by the time he was assassinated. How would King suggest we go about it--it would take another mass reform movement, with people across the country dedicating their lives to it and to each other's welfare, just as happened with the Civil Rights Movement. As King's fellow Civil Rights Movement leader Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) puts it: "The alternative to reaching out is to allow the gaps between us to grow, and this is simply something we cannot afford to do...If one section of our house begins to rot--a basement, a back room, a closed-off closet--the entire structure is in danger of collapsing." I know that Lewis, who as a politician naturally has great faith in our system of government in its own right, would also emphasize that we need a new political leader who can inspire people to pursue this vision, and lament that the simultaneous deification and ruthless skewering of public figures in contemporary media makes this extremely difficult. But I also think such a person would only be able to emerge once we ourselves have committed to this pursuit anyway.

 

[maycocksean]

There was this cartoon--I can't remember the name--on Comedy Central I think, that imagined this very thing.

As I recall, Dr. King wasn't too happy about how things turned out.

 

[verte76]

He would be considered one of the most important people alive,

 

[the iron horse]

I remember seeing King on TV as a kid.

I have read a few bios and his Letters from a Birmingham Jail.

All I could read about the man.


He did not hate whites or other races.

He was about equality

and character.

He was about us. Not a race card...but people.
Things, I think, would have worked out differently in history if he had lived. We would be years ahead of where we are now.


Still sad about his death.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Good chance he would be as popular/ or unpopular as Jesse Jackson.


If anyone wants to do a little research, by 1968 many considered him a 'communist" he was advocating against the Viet Nam War.


I am not trying to diminish the memory of MLK jr, one bit.

I believe him to be at the top of the list of most important people of the last century.
I also support 100% all of the issues he raised.

I am just trying to be realistic here.

If JFK had lived would he be more like Jimmy Carter or Ted Kennedy?


I will digress for a comparison
take the young James Dean and the young Brando.
If Brando had died in the car crash would James Dean have turned into the bloated, Larry King kissing aging actor?

Also, let's say if Liz Taylor had died in her 30s would she be the tragic icon,
and Monroe lived on, would she have had 7-8 husbands and an erratic life?

agreed... it's such a different america today that you simply never know how any of the icons from the 60s and earlier would be held in today's 24 hour news/TMZ world.

i think dr. king would be held in a higher esteem than jesse jackson, but still... so much has changed between now and then. all it takes is one slip up... to err is human, after all... and today's vulture media will simply rip you apart. so who knows.

one would hope he'd be held as the same iconic figure if he was still alive that he has been since his death.