Dr. M.L. KING Jr. – Still the Moral Leader of America!
Today, President-elect Donald J. Trump will observe the Dr. King Holiday by meeting Dr. King's eldest son… I praise him on so doing because while people criticize him, he continues to extend himself to people of color and particularly Black people. I am very impressed by that as a Black man.
Dr. King was a genius, and those that oppose the kind of changes that he was inducing as quickly as he was, ensured that he was no more. There were people of both major ‘races’ (Black and Whites) who opposed Dr. King’s approach. Dr. King was first and foremost an intellectual, and an American who was proud enough to be American and intelligent enough that he understood the genius of the framework of the U.S. Constitution, and wanted to extend the freedoms that were extended to Whites to Black Americans or former slaves who were still disenfranchised dozens of years later. In fact, he wanted to extend them to humanity at large.
It is arguable that this disenfranchisement still persists TODAY to some extent. However, the Blacks that are willing to be optimistic will realize that America is willing to “stop giving the Negro a bad check – with insufficient funds” and instead give it a check that can enrich Blacks with the riches of freedom and justice.
Equality is sometimes a bad metric because we cannot truly be equal. However, justice is a more realistic metric. There is a plethora of Blacks that are doing well today. However, a quick glance at Detroit, Michigan and the South side of Chicago is a reminder that the American Negro is still disenfranchised. While many intelligent and educated Blacks have escaped, far too many are still NOT ABLE to live the dream that Dr. King envisioned. However, the laws that were induced by his legacy are still there to liberate Black Americans or at least give them hope that can only be realized in America.
A Respect for Whites Who Were Deemed FAIR!
Despite emphasizing that Blacks should not be satisfied until they are treated fairly, Dr. King had a profound respect for many Whites who empathized with Blacks, and even marched with them. He also saw many regular and kind-hearted Whites as victims of the system itself.
His urge was one for FREEDOM. Truly it was a human quest, but since he happened to have been an American leader, and a Black man who was called to fight for the injustices that Blacks face in America… whose only mobility was from smaller ghettos to larger ones – he had to give focusing on the task at hand. That of getting rid of those “WHITES ONLY SIGNS” and giving Blacks access to American privileges in which he believed. After all, he was a genius who, intellectually, prospered in America at a rather young age.
His urge was to share his dream that America can and will live up to its laws/ideals:
“we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal… one day the sons of former slaves and those of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood… that even the most racist states will be foster interracial brotherhood… that his four children will be judged by the content of their character… little Black and White boys and girls will be able to play together as brothers and sisters”
TODAY President Donald J. Trump will meet the son of this very man/prophet/leader at such a table. In a TWEET he said the following:
Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrumpCelebrate Martin Luther King Day and all of the many wonderful things that he stood for. Honor him for being the great man that he was!
I am PROUD to have been part of the American experience after all and have chosen to see America in a positive light… with the aspiration that America will always be a land of liberty, a land on which FREEDOM will reign. May God bless Dr. King’s soul, Mr. Trump’s presidency and may God bless America at large.
Dr. Pete Lorins is the Chief Editor of LorinsPOST.com. This article was sponsored by www.LORINS.biz