I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by
the content of their character. I have a dream today. ~ Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Some 60 years ago (and just months
before I was born), Martin Luther King gave what became one of the
most heralded speeches yet to have been delivered in the English language.
At
the time, hopes that this dream laid out by Rev. King would become
widely accepted were largely aspirational. His words that day hearkened
back - in more than one way - to those of a similarly gifted orator,
Abraham Lincoln. You may recall, in urging for reconciliation how President Lincoln had appealed to "the
better angels of our nature," in his first
inaugural address.
In both cases, the nation
moved forward, however imperfectly, until both of these great men's
visions advanced from aspiration to realization.
In fact, not that many
years ago, acceptance of the notion that all people should be judged by the content
of their character was nearly ubiquitous among both conservative and
liberal constituencies.
More recently, however, a worrisome trend has emerged.
This
troubling new vision substitutes reconciliation with Balkanization. It is a vision of division instead of unity. No longer is the appeal to our nature's "better angels", as it once was, but to something far less noble: tribalism, avarice,
and retribution.
This vision pushes back against the very notion of good character as a virtue. Such ideals have been
watered down, redefined - or rejected outright. No longer is the vision
one of character qualities over superficial appearance, but rather tribal affiliation based on skin color over
all else.
So in our current political climate,
while the conservative cause has fully embraced King's colorblind
creed, it seems that the political left has gone in a new and dangerous direction. In doing so, they have abandoned the dream, and embraced a nightmare.
Ironically, the liberals who once held up Dr. King as the model for their racial "aspirations" now retreat in horror when they are confronted with the fact that Dr. King was a unabashed Baptist preacher whose words of racial harmony and reconcilation are straight from the bible. The "better angels" President Lincoln spoke of is a biblical concept of "loving your neighbor as yourself", and overcoming our natural sinful desire to first and foremost "look out for No 1".. Dr. King's famous "Letters From Birmingham" writing concepts are straight from the bible. Funny how national educational assessment tests like the ACT and SAT were suddenly viewed by liberals as racist and dismissed as discriminatory, and now low and behold, the New York Times no less has now admitted that the tests are not only not discriminatory, but actually helpful to minorities! Liberals get it wrong again. Yet another wrong direction, as you noted is that liberal tribalism has replaced MLK's vision of racial harmony and collaberation. Notice how colleges have set up clubs and groups for every tribe. Discrimination on campuses is encouraged, and "tribes" like Jews and Christians are shouted down and bullied - the exact opposite of Dr. Kings desire and aspiration. Whatever direction the liberals are going - take the opposite.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that this militant black lives matter organization has literally white wash any of Dr. Martin Luther King's connections with his Christian Baptist beliefs. Like the writer had said, they are using parts of King's speech to divide people. This is of course what the cancel culture wants to do which is to destroy all of the past history so they can rewrite their own narrative. In the case of George Floyd there was no mention of him ending up on the streets because Governor Walz close down all of the treatment programs and small businesses because of the Covid risks. While it was dangerous for them to seek help for their addictions it was perfectly fine to keep liquor stores open. We must keep King's faith in Jesus Christ alive instead of allowing the progressive left destroy our faith and our churches.
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