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Words mean things.

Dr. King has a collection of warts on his biography. Most great men usually do.

A copy of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech lives down in the Holy Temple of Bang amongst the reloading presses, leather scraps, and posted copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Content of character. Indeed.

Looking at how Houston now has two parades run by two separate groups of equally-unsavory MLK-exploiters, maybe they were right?

Nah. The people who initially resisted MLK Day were not looking down the road that far. They were, for the most part, just resisting based on racism wrapped in some other excuse’s clothing.

Perhaps those that reflexively shout “Our Founding Fathers did X because of Y” could learn such a thing.

It is a shame that african-american leaders who followed Dr. King have been unwilling to carry on his legacy. Instead, those jackals have carved out a niche for themselves to make money- look no further then Jesse Jackson’s speech in Georgia yesterday.

“Dr. King has a collection of warts on his biography. Most great men usually do.”

Very true. Without taking anything away from King’s necessary role in ending racial segregation why are his warts not emphasised the way those of the Founding Fathers are? George Washington doesn’t even have a national holiday and soon there’ll be no schools and streets named after him. Even Jesus goes under the PC media microscope each Christmas and Easter.

BTW the “Dr” bit is one of those warts. King’s Ph.d thesis was mostly a work of plagiarism. Not that there’ll be any mention of this fact today in the media.

“A copy of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech lives down in the Holy Temple of Bang amongst the reloading presses, leather scraps, and posted copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.”

This speech was also plagiarised. King tried to pass it off as his own but it is clear that the best parts of the speech were originally delivered at the 1952 Republican National Convention by a black preacher named Archibald Carey. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0873190459/qid=1105982788/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-4251645-9493746?v=glance&s=books Don’t expect to hear anything about this today on MSM.

As I said King deserves credit for his main accomplishment but it is his elevation to sainthood that bothers me. Imagine what would happen to a teacher if he/she pointed out King’s bad side or a reporter who chose today to point out that King was wrong about the mass murdering tyrant Ho Chi Minh. It is unhealthy for a society to be intolerant of criticism of any public figure.

Coisty -

I celebrate Mr. King’s good works.

There is no sainthood implied, or bestowed, on my part. I take the message of “I have a dream” as a clarion call to all the people to put aside differences of skin or other “otherness” in favor of a forward, optomistic, and free society.

I can support that.

Thank you very much for the links, too. The Knowledge Bag creaks ominously, again. Still.

A great man. A great speech. A great movement.

Those in the civil rights movement knew that King had taken parts of the Rev. Carey speech, and used it has part of his basic stump speech. Carey himself knew,and appoved. King was the unquestioned leader, the voice, and face for millions. Like every black man who was out front, he knew what would happen, how short his time could be on this earth. Carey knew too,and didn’t mind.

I agree with you completely Roger. Reverend King may have had human flaws, but he was without question a true nation builder.

As a Canadian, who loves much about America, I say you have a great deal of which to be proud and the changes in race relations over the last 30 years rivals the liberation of Iraq as a magnificently noble achievement.

I wish all Americans would embrace and celebrate this holiday.

Bless you Roger.

So true, and so beautifully stated, Roger.