Radiofree West Hartford -- M.L.K., Jr. Day? by Tom Evers

THE CROW'S NEST:

M.L.K., Jr. Day?

By Tom Evers

January 20, 2003

I've been on a sort of vacation since around the Christmas holiday, so this makes for my first official column of 2003.

It's convenient that I'm writing this column on Martin Luther King Day. It's an irony that we show tribute to a man who spent his life working hard trying to achieve something (whatever it was) by sitting on our arses at home watching television. King's dream never included a day off for everyone, did it?

In fact, this raises the question of why we have this day off anyway.

Martin Luther King Day is a very strange holiday. If you think about what you might need to accomplish in your lifetime in order for you and your good works to be recognized by a national holiday -- isn't it an almost insurmountable task? I mean let's face it; the bar should be higher than imaginable. I mean Congress wouldn't just vote a holiday to break up the winter blues, would it?

As it is, there are few holidays on the books that are dedicated to specific men. At one point both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln had their own individual days on the calendar. Sadly, today these are days have been unified and celebrated as "President's Day". I could write a book on both of these great men -- describing their accomplishments - specifically, what they did for this great nation and why they should be celebrated.

But, I have trouble when it comes to MLK, Jr. and comprehending in tangible terms why he should receive a national honor when the other two do not.

Now I know that some people will complain that I'm being a racist or insensitive to blacks and all of that nonsense that they dream up when valid questions are asked. But I ask them to sit down quietly with a pen and pad and draft up a reasonable explanation for giving Martin Luther King, Jr. a holiday of his own. If Lincoln and Washington aren't worthy, then tell us exactly what King did to set this high standard?

My guess is that with all things being equal, no one could provide us with any sensible reason why this is.

So, while President Bush and other local, state, and national politicians run around to various MLK events in order to pander to the African-American community for votes, we sit wondering -- why the bother? Somehow this day has become a celebration for the black community, but the question what exactly are they celebrating? A man's death? A man's achievement? A man's speech? A man's ideas? What is it that is so profound that it should halt banks and work activity all over of the United States? Is this something that all Americans - of all backgrounds should understand?

Is this something that is ever explained? No. No, its not.

All in all, the concept of "MLK Day" to the sound mind seems totally unreasonable.

Since King didn't discover a country, didn't win a war, didn't shape some world event, or didn't do anything of consequence other than challenge the status quo and get killed for it; then let me go out on a limb on this one. This is a day created by a group of Democrats in order to pander to and solidify the minority vote for election time. Yep, that would make a national holiday nothing more than another political move on the strategic political board. This holiday is nothing more than a created "black holiday" - an opportunity for people of color to have "their day" and an opportunity for Democrats to get "their vote."

But old habits die hard. Common sense will never prevail on this one. Now Republicans and Democrats run around each January 20th to an auditorium near you in order to patronize MLK: a civil right leader (yeah, like Jesse Jackson, oh boy), but let the truth be known: he was another "Reverend" who appreciated communism, studied socialism, and was also a womanizing philanderer.

A February 3, 2001 article at the NRO Weekend web page reported this citing: In 1964, when Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize, [George] Schuyler gored him: "Neither directly nor indirectly has Dr. King made any contribution to world (or even domestic) peace. Methinks the Lenin Prize would have been more appropriate, since it is no mean feat for one so young to acquire 60 communist front citations…. Dr. King's principle contribution to world peace has been to roam the country like some sable Typhoid Mary, infecting the mentally disturbed with perversions of Christian doctrine, and grabbing fat lecture fees from the shallow-pated."

I love to know how this one is explained in the school system. I'm sure its glazed over like most things. Hey, did you know that Washington was a slave owner? And that discounts him from anything important he ever did - like help to forge a Nation?

OK Class - in the land of the new PC doctrine: let's try to keep our focus on things that are not important or made up and forget about things that are important.

So when someone mentions MLK Day…ask him or her "why"?