Farrakhan's Millions More March
The Millions More March scheduled for this coming weekend in Washington is a project of Louis Farrakhan. As far as the real agenda and intent of the event go, Farrakhan's involvement is essentially the end of discussion!
Though I do not engage in the hero worship of Martin Luther King, I did have some respect for him during his lifetime. In fact, even though my political orientation has shifted decidedly to the right in the intervening years, I still hold a certain amount of esteem for him. Dr. King, after all, did not go about making remarks which, if their equivalent were to be made by a white person, would be considered racist. And Dr. King did not engage in wholesale attacks upon the Jewish people. Farrakhan, Sharpton, Jesse Jackson -- not one of them is fit to carry Dr. King's lunchpail.
In May 1968, following Dr. King's death, hundreds of his followers converged on Washington and erected an expanse of tents and shanties by the Reflecting Pool. It was called Resurrection City, and was occupied by approximately 2,500 people until the Washington police dismantled it about a month later. At the time, I was a junior high school student, and I believed (and still believe) that the people there had a valid gripe.
But then, during the summer of 1968, I visited Washington with my family. I saw the muddy torn-up turf where Resurrection City had been just a few weeks before, and I remarked "What right do they have to leave such a mess in the public park over there?" or something to that effect. My aunt instantly agreed with me.
And so, not only was the park soiled with mud, but, from that moment forward, so was my view of the civil rights movement. I still pulled for them, still considered myself to be a liberal, and still supported public protest gatherings in our nation's Capital (and continue to do so), but somehow, the American Black leadership, bereft of Dr. King, had lost some of its luster.
Though I do not engage in the hero worship of Martin Luther King, I did have some respect for him during his lifetime. In fact, even though my political orientation has shifted decidedly to the right in the intervening years, I still hold a certain amount of esteem for him. Dr. King, after all, did not go about making remarks which, if their equivalent were to be made by a white person, would be considered racist. And Dr. King did not engage in wholesale attacks upon the Jewish people. Farrakhan, Sharpton, Jesse Jackson -- not one of them is fit to carry Dr. King's lunchpail.
In May 1968, following Dr. King's death, hundreds of his followers converged on Washington and erected an expanse of tents and shanties by the Reflecting Pool. It was called Resurrection City, and was occupied by approximately 2,500 people until the Washington police dismantled it about a month later. At the time, I was a junior high school student, and I believed (and still believe) that the people there had a valid gripe.
But then, during the summer of 1968, I visited Washington with my family. I saw the muddy torn-up turf where Resurrection City had been just a few weeks before, and I remarked "What right do they have to leave such a mess in the public park over there?" or something to that effect. My aunt instantly agreed with me.
And so, not only was the park soiled with mud, but, from that moment forward, so was my view of the civil rights movement. I still pulled for them, still considered myself to be a liberal, and still supported public protest gatherings in our nation's Capital (and continue to do so), but somehow, the American Black leadership, bereft of Dr. King, had lost some of its luster.
posted by Expatriate Owl @ 11:16 PM
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