MLKJ Day

From USA Today:

"King's legacy still cause of debate"

It is a large legacy that looms over the past five decades, from the prophetic "I Have a Dream" speech delivered during the March on Washington to his last campaign taking a stand for underpaid black sanitation workers in Memphis, the city where he was slain. But to a number of conservatives, forgotten in the shadow of the memorials and tributes during the national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life's work is his firm embrace of Christian values and a desire to see a colorblind America live up to the creed of equality professed by the Founding Fathers. "I am a conservative and very proud of him and his sacrifices," said Laura Houston, a 61-year-old black Republican. She also is a member of the tea party, which borrows heavily from King's playbook of demonstrations and civic activism. Houston grew up attending the all-black Monroe High School in Cocoa, Fla., and remembers the man who used the pulpit to remind America of its obligations to Godly justice. "I do not think that people appreciate the contributions he made. When he started out, he separated from the other black (secular) groups like the NAACP and formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. I respected him for that," said Houston, who was raised a Southern Baptist. Houston's is not an uncommon opinion today in many conservative circles, even as communities across the country prepare Monday to commemorate what would have been King's 85th birthday in an era where abortion is a protected right and same-sex marriage is slowly becoming the law of the land. ^“I think that had he lived, King would not be a part of the (liberal) Democratic movement that came out of the 1960s. I don't think he would support abortion or gay rights.^” The move to cast King in a more conservative light has grown increasingly vocal in recent years as conservatives point to the fundamental values of traditional families, self-help and patriotism shared with King as he preached a gospel of social justice for all Americans. Critics, however, see it as a slight of hand tactic that avoids King's calls to help the poor and shun war. Those who hold a traditional view of King as a radical who used non-violence and wrote about reforming America's treatment of the poor and marginalized, question the characterization made by conservatives. In the years leading up to his assassination, King had moved beyond his focus on civil rights and began openly challenging the sitting Democratic president, Lyndon Johnson, over Vietnam, wealth redistribution and the struggles of the poor. "He was beyond and above being a Democrat or a Republican," said Gordon Patterson, a professor with the Humanities Department at Florida Tech who has studied civil rights. "Martin Luther King Jr.'s politics were a politics of morality, and that transcended any organization. He was fighting for justice ... if that was Democratic, good, if it was Republican, good," said Gordon, who participated in civil rights marches while an undergraduate student at Northwestern University. To be sure, King, who was at the forefront of the civil rights movement, inspired others to protest or practice civil disobedience against laws they disagreed with, said Houston and others. This weekend, pro-life activists across the nation will take to the streets in prayer and protest in a similar fashion against the Roe vs. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court 41 years ago. Houston said King would be shocked to find the traditional values he taught as a minister were de-emphasized in the civil rights movement in favor of a more secular world view.

"I think that had he lived, King would not be a part of the (liberal) Democratic movement that came out of the 1960s. I don't think he would support abortion or gay rights," as a Christian minister, said Houston, who turned from the Democratic Party not long after it began supporting Roe vs. Wade.

"No, I don't think King would be happy with what's happened in our society and what's happened to the black family."

^ This was an interesting "what if" piece. One thing that people today don't have to ponder is those Southern states that continue to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day along with Confederate "icons." That is a disgrace along the same lines as holding Holocaust Remembrance Day along with Hitler. The Germans were made to stop worshipping Hitler and the Nazis after World War 2 and many former Communist dictatorships have since allowed Communist symbols and praise. The same should be done in the US with anything relating to the Confederacy. People who say Confederate symbols and ideals aren't racist clearly don't remember the Civil Rights era in the 1950s-1960s when they were highly used to stop integration. I lived in Virginia (where they celebrated MLKJ-Lee-Davis Day.) The Civil War may have ended 149 years ago and the Civil Rights Movement 40 years ago, but there are still very strong desires in the South to "bring back the glory of the old Confederate days." That is something that should never be allowed to happen. The Confederacy is on the same annuals of history as: Nazism, Communism and Apartheid. ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/19/kings-legacy-still-cause-of-debate/4654407/