Articles on Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rev. Billy Kyles, "[King] would be terribly disappointed with the behavior of the children of the black nation and all this anger they feel."
Rev. Jesse Jackson, "We're free, not equal... we must focus on the economic investments to close the gaps."
Andrew Young, "But very few people have been able to deal with the poorest of the poor, which is what Martin was doing at the time of his death."
"The scars of [King's] humanity are what make his glorious achievements all the more remarkable... In the end, King used the inevitability of a premature death to argue for social change and measure our commitment to truth."
1 comment:
On Rev Jackson's observation about investing to close the economic gap between black Americans and white Americans, I am curious about the degree of investment that might be necessary. I had this discussion with one SFC Richardson in 1999, my platoon Sergeant at the time.
He commented that I didn't have any black friends or didn't hang out with black people. Quite the contrary, I told him, some of my best friends were black: Jerry Ferguson, Antoine Edwards, and Jermaine Thomas. His snap comment was that they must not act black. I retorted that he was right, they didn't act black, they acted educated.
I have no aversion to black Americans, as can be seen concerning my hope for Obama vs. Hillary. In fact, the only thing I really hate, concerning all races, is the predisposition to identify themselves as "something-American." I am NOT hispanic American... I am American. Period. What is my ancestry? Does it matter? My achievements in this life will be those of Dorian Perez, not Dorian Perez the hispanic-American. Being of hispanic descent has nothing to do with it.
(As my wife comments about me, I don't hate any particular race... I dislike everybody equally. I like, and love, on an entirely individual basis.)
Thus, when we talk about investing in those gaps to minimize the separation between races, my first question is," What are the races doing for themselves?" I remember this girl in High School, Kendra Thorn, a brilliant - and gorgeous - young lady that happened to be black. I joined the Army and she, I think, went off to college because her grades MERITED it.
How much of a welfare system are we willing to finance? The highest percentage of Americans living in poverty are of minority races. Okay. The highest percentage of Americans committing crimes and occupying our prisons are also of minority races. The highest percentage of unwed pregnancies and subsequent welfare participation are also of the minority races. Is there a correlation there?
Now, let's not pretend I'm saying ALL minorities are irresponsible. As I've attempted to illustrate, there is an astronomical number of minorities taking the higher road of responsibility. I AM saying that before we invest anymore in an overwhelmed welfare system, let's actually discuss ways to put some responsibility where it lies. Like a 401k program... I'll match your contributions.
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