berman@ihuxm.UUCP (Andy Berman) (10/19/83)
It seems that the folks coming out of the woodwork to denounce Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. come in a variety of styles. We have the rabid racist
Jessie Helms type, linking Dr. Kings's lifelong struggle for social and
economic justice to the International CCCCommmmunistic Konspiracy. The
Helms' types fortunately haven't made their appearance on the net, (yet).
But we see another neanderthal approach in the article posted by Larry
Cipriani. My guess is that this line of attack comes from the
Libertarian/Ayn Rand politics that crop up consistently on the net.
(A topic for someone's thesis in Sociology: why are Liberatarian
style politics particularly popular among folks with access to computers?)
The idea he seems to be putting forth is that King worked hard for laws
protecting civil rights. Laws mean government authority, and government
authority in any and all forms makes the Libertarian folks uneasy.
Now the fact is that Dr. King did work hard for the passage of Civil
Rights legislation at both the Federal and Local levels. King also
led a mass movement of non-violent civil disobedience that repeated
broke the laws and ordinances of segregation and discrimination.
In terms of breaking down the legal barriers of segregation, Dr. King
led a movement that was enormously successful. In terms of breaking
down the de-facto barriers of segregation, discrimination and economic
injustice.... well the struggle goes on.
I remember seeing Dr. King speak. This was in New York in the Spring
of 1967. Lyndon Johnson was the President, and the Federal government
had formally committed itself to civil rights and voting rights legislation.
The establishment recognized the huge following Dr. King had, and really was
trying to co-opt it. At that time, against the advice of many fearful
"leaders" and liberal friends, Dr. King took an extrodinarily
courageous stand and called for the ending of the bombing of Viet Nam
and the withdrawral of US troops. This was years before opposition
to the War became fashionable.
King was undoubtedly one of the greatest, patriotic Americans of our time.
-Andy Berman