For the last few years I've observed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by watching his "I Have a Dream Speech," or the "Mountain Top." They are on YouTube. This year I watched the full version of both.
Caveats:
1. I know about MLK's moral failings. They don't take much away from his significant influence.
2. I know how leftists today seek to hijack his name and reputation for their own different agendas. This also should not lead us to dismiss his historic import.
3. In my situation, some may dismiss me as being "woke" for writing about MLK at all. This is the politics of perception more than substance. His goal was biblical: equal treatment for blacks along with whites under the law.
A key lesson from MLK's legacy:
He sought to hold together a movement that tended to drift to extremes.
Some went the way of Malcolm X: the ballot or the bullet. Violence condoned.
Others wimped out and compromised to easily with the other side.
MLK challenged both sides to stay focused, determined, and non-violent.
This is a lesson for conservatives today. Where is the statesman today with the moral authority to denounce storming the Capitol while also determining to fight on for biblical principles? Not to make stupid claims about a stolen election, but to rally around a dream:
- color-blind equity before the law, not rascist Critical Race Theory and intersectionality.
The anti-racism of White Fragility is in direct contradiction to MLK's dream of judging a person by the content of their character, instead of by the color of their skin. Our leftist media has judged that rioters for George Floyd can loot and burn, but that rioters for Trump at the Capitol are unforgivable.
- limited government
where states, counties and communities have more sway over our lives than the U.S. Congress.
- our laws aligned with the Bible
Not celebrating what they condemn.
I also need to say, MLK challenges the old guard conservative in our land. There are times the minority challenge and protest is good and right. It needs to be heard and considered carefully. America DID owe our black brothers delivery on the check they sought to cash.
But just because you are protesting like MLK, maybe even in his name, doesn't mean your cause is automatically as just as his was. Rafael Warnock brings a VERY different message to the U.S. Senate than MLK ever did. It's hard to believe we are racist like we were back in 1963, though tiny vestiges remain.
The media's current narrative is a lie, damaging and dividing our country:
- Trump was a white supremacist
- his ideas and those of conservatives generally, are racist
- conservatives endanger democracy
- we should shut down conservative voices, so we don't have more Capitol stormers
NO.
Let us celebrate our nation's heritage of free speech, that gave MLK the platform to advocate for civil rights.
Let us thank God for a nation that has grown (too slowly) out of racism and bigotry
Let us remember that the kingdom of God is made up of people of every color, tribe, people, and nation.
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