Do you celebrate "Martin Luther King's" day?

[ScreamingEagle]

I don't.

Not since they took away George Washington's day and Abraham Lincoln's day, combining them into a neutral, wishy-washy, could-be-anyone "Presidents" day.

I don't have anything against King but I certainly DON'T think he should get a special day named after him when two very famous and revered Presidents of our country lose their special named days. What's with this crap? This is what we call "equal"?
:finger:

 

[The ClayTaurus]

While I don't throw a party, I feel MLK's historical importance is worthy of recognition, independent of whatever happens to any other holiday. I would be hesitant in getting into a who-can-render-who's-holidays-worthless-the-most battle.

 

[no1tovote4]

I love hearing his speeches on talk radio on this day. That guy could really orate with the best of them.

 

[fuzzykitten99]

While I do agree with the message he was trying to send, I have been hearing some things about him that basically sounds like a hypocrite...stuff like he cheated constantly on his wife, and did the things he preached against.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

While I do agree with the message he was trying to send, I have been hearing some things about him that basically sounds like a hypocrite...stuff like he cheated constantly on his wife, and did the things he preached against.

Got any links to such stuff? I'd be greatly interested.

 

[Semper Fi]

No, I dont celebrate it. We had a teacher work day today so I had the day off, kind of odd because we've only been back in school for a week, and it happened to be on MLK day. Hmmmm.

 

[manu1959]

Got any links to such stuff? I'd be greatly interested.

knock yourself out http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mlk+adultery&spell=1

 

[Abbey Normal]

I thought the adultery charges were pretty well known by now. I can remember being very disappointed and sad to hear it. Other than that, he seemed to be such a good man. Adultery is just one of those things that I find very hard to accept.

 

[NATO AIR]

I don't mind that he sinned, that is something all of us are guilty of. I do not think less of him because of his transgressions on that count. Many of our greatest leaders have had serious personal flaws; but that is what makes us all human and we should not think less of their accomplishments or their supreme importance to our history and culture.

I look at what the man accomplished and what he represented. Hope, faith and a boundless optimism, in the midst of some very dark days. An undying belief in the unique ideals and fabric of America. A heroic dedication to seeking justice and basic, inalienable rights.

Look at the character of the movement before it was rotted from within by the FBI's numerous dirty tricks campaigns and petty jealousies of far lesser men.

A movement centered around religious faith, (something that makes liberals uncomfortable, and something which Pres. Bush and many others sadly miss an opportunity to highlight), the kind of faith that unites, that emboldens, that reassures, in short, a redeeming belief that no matter what, the cause was just and the outcome would reflect that fundamental reality.

King is one of our greatest patriots. His legacy is sadly reduced to one speech; one train of thought, a disgraceful turn of events that sells us all short. He lived for us, he suffered for us and he died for us, all so that we as Americans could begin to address the shortcomings of our actions (or inaction) and attitudes regarding race, poverty and religion.

He loved this nation, and this nation rightly loves and reveres him. But we must go further than that, and truly begin to honor him. The civil rights movement of the early 1960's was a truly "American" movement, representing the faith and convictions of millions of Americans across idealogical divisions who, slowly but surely, began to realize something was amiss with the American Dream and with the fabric of America, and took the action to make things right. There is no reason we can't do the same today.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

knock yourself out http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mlk+adultery&spell=1

I meant more the

...and did the things he preached against.

part

 

[dmp]

I don't.

Not since they took away George Washington's day and Abraham Lincoln's day, combining them into a neutral, wishy-washy, could-be-anyone "Presidents" day.

?

http://www.opm.gov/fedhol/2006.asp

Monday, February 20** Washington's Birthday



** This holiday is designated as "Washington's Birthday" in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law.

Emphasis Mine

 

[-Cp]

Hell no....

Howcome black American's are the only one's that get an entire month as "Black history month"? What about a "Yellow History Month" or "White History Month"? I mean, I thought the libs were against special rights...

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Hell no....

Howcome black American's are the only one's that get an entire month as "Black history month"? What about a "Yellow History Month" or "White History Month"? I mean, I thought the libs were against special rights...

MLK day isn't even during black history month.

 

[Hobbit]

MLK day isn't even during black history month.

Now that really bugs me. The twin awesomeness of Lincoln Day and Washington Day has been taken from us, but MLK day remains with Black History Month riding in just two weeks after.

Also, why the hell do they get a whole month. If we were proportional to the amount of recorded history that can be accounted for, white history would get half a year, and asian history would get a full year, so why do we have to devote a whole month to learning that a black man invented the traffic light and the light bulb filament (Edison, anyone?) and listening to nutjobs who set back blacks 20 years every time they open their mouths talking about how they're continuing the dream of MLK and Rosa Parks.

All these special concessions to blacks to get them to shut up about racism need to stop, seriously.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Now that really bugs me. The twin awesomeness of Lincoln Day and Washington Day has been taken from us, but MLK day remains with Black History Month riding in just two weeks after.

Also, why the hell do they get a whole month. If we were proportional to the amount of recorded history that can be accounted for, white history would get half a year, and asian history would get a full year, so why do we have to devote a whole month to learning that a black man invented the traffic light and the light bulb filament (Edison, anyone?) and listening to nutjobs who set back blacks 20 years every time they open their mouths talking about how they're continuing the dream of MLK and Rosa Parks.

All these special concessions to blacks to get them to shut up about racism need to stop, seriously.

I got no beef with getting rid of black history month, or alternately, giving every race a history month. MLK day should stay, though, IMO.

 

[ScreamingEagle]

The John Birch Society has claimed from the early stages of Martin Luther King Jr.'s public career than he was a "Communist". Later, they declared King plagarized works in university for his Master's thesis and doctrinal dissertation. They also claimed that King was an "adulter" (had affairs) and "whoremonger" (used white prostitutes). White-supremacist organizations have since promoted these claims on the Internet and in their publications.

Since the early 1970s the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has been presented as a very noble man. In the U.S. there is an annual holiday (Jan. 15th) called "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day"). His image is constantly on television, and in public libraries. The African-American Community, and in a growing number of African countries, he has become an icon and a hero.

Is there any truth to what The John Birch Society said about him?

Unfortunately: YES!

Although not well-known the general public, most American historians and scholars of the 20th century history know the following as facts regarding Dr. King:

1) He did plagarize heavily in his masters thesis, doctrinal dissertation, and in a number of sermons he gave.

2) He did have numerous affairs with black female aids and friends. Several of them have publicly stated this over the years. He did use prostitutes upon occassion; including white prostitutes. The night before he died, at the Lorrain hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, he had two white prostitutes in his room with him.

3) He close advisor and secretary from 1955 to 1961 was Bayard Rustin; a black member of the Communist Party USA. His personal secretary from 1961 until his death in 1968 was Jack O'Dell, who was a member of the National Community of the Communist Party USA in 1962. In 1979 Evans-Raymond Pierre, a close associate of MLK Jr., told the Senate Judicial Committee: "While I was in the Communist Party, as a loyal American Negro, I knew Martin Luther King Jr. to be closely associated with the Communist Party." (Martin Luther King's Communist Connections, p.1 online) As a young man MLK Jr. attended the Highlander Folk School; which today is recognized as a private school founded by the Communist Party USA to train young Communist leaders (both black and white).

http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/blackmormon/q51.htm

 

[The ClayTaurus]

The JBS is anti-leftist, particularly anti-socialist and anti-communist. Critics of the Society call it Far Right, and some say Neo-Fascist. It has a long history of promoting conspiracy theories, and the degree of conspiracism has isolated it from many conserative groups. During the 1960s the JBS opposed the Civil Rights Movement as a communist plot, and it has flirted with antisemitic conspiracy theories, although current and past leaders of the JBS have denounced bigotry against Jews. The John Birch Society has always been open to people of all races and religions.

And from that angelfire site, which is lacking in references to much of the information.

It is not the purpose of this book to judge or condemn the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He tried to better the lives of African-Americans. He preached peace and tolerance instead of hate and anger. He tried to improve the lot of his oppressed people; regardless of whom he thought he needed to work with, and get help from, to do it; and regardless of his personal failings as a man. In that respect he was indeed a "hero"; for even on the battlefield a "hero" is made by his actions in the heat of battlefield, and not when he is or does elsewhere!

But~the evidence is clear~Elder Benson was essentially correct in what he wrote about Dr. King, and what he wrote about the Communist influence over the Civil-Rights Movement. According to Elder Benson, the white Communists cared nothing for the "Negro", but to use them and spill their blood (not their own) in order to take over the U.S. and make it a communist state.

It basically sounds like the JBS, and apparently this website, and perhaps Screaming Eagle, believe that MLK was nothing more than a puppet, being manipulated by white communists who couldn't give a shit about him.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

One of King's closest friends, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, wrote a book in 1989 in which he talked about King's obsession with white prostitutes. King would often use church donations to have drunken sex parties, where he would hire two to three white prostitutes, occasionally beating them brutally.

False. Abernathy acknowledges in his autobiography that King had a "weakness for women" and indulged in extramarital affairs, but makes no mention whatsoever of "drunken sex parties" or prostitutes, and explicitly denies that King had dalliances with white women. Furthermore, Abernathy writes, far from being physically abusive, King was "always gracious and courteous to women."

Source

Alternate explanation.
It appears one should strongly consider the source on much of this anti-King material.

 

[archangel]

The John Birch Society has claimed from the early stages of Martin Luther King Jr.'s public career than he was a "Communist". Later, they declared King plagarized works in university for his Master's thesis and doctrinal dissertation. They also claimed that King was an "adulter" (had affairs) and "whoremonger" (used white prostitutes). White-supremacist organizations have since promoted these claims on the Internet and in their publications.

Since the early 1970s the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has been presented as a very noble man. In the U.S. there is an annual holiday (Jan. 15th) called "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day"). His image is constantly on television, and in public libraries. The African-American Community, and in a growing number of African countries, he has become an icon and a hero.

Is there any truth to what The John Birch Society said about him?

Unfortunately: YES!

Although not well-known the general public, most American historians and scholars of the 20th century history know the following as facts regarding Dr. King:

1) He did plagarize heavily in his masters thesis, doctrinal dissertation, and in a number of sermons he gave.

2) He did have numerous affairs with black female aids and friends. Several of them have publicly stated this over the years. He did use prostitutes upon occassion; including white prostitutes. The night before he died, at the Lorrain hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, he had two white prostitutes in his room with him.

3) He close advisor and secretary from 1955 to 1961 was Bayard Rustin; a black member of the Communist Party USA. His personal secretary from 1961 until his death in 1968 was Jack O'Dell, who was a member of the National Community of the Communist Party USA in 1962. In 1979 Evans-Raymond Pierre, a close associate of MLK Jr., told the Senate Judicial Committee: "While I was in the Communist Party, as a loyal American Negro, I knew Martin Luther King Jr. to be closely associated with the Communist Party." (Martin Luther King's Communist Connections, p.1 online) As a young man MLK Jr. attended the Highlander Folk School; which today is recognized as a private school founded by the Communist Party USA to train young Communist leaders (both black and white).

http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/blackmormon/q51.htm

My stepdad was a member of the John Birch society...He was a Naval Aviator/ Commander...who worked for Lockheed Skunk works back in the sixtees...he use to talk alot about this...so I would say this assessment would be correct...although I never agreed on everything he had to say...on this he was correct!

 

[5stringJeff]

MLK Day should be like Kwanzaa or Flag Day: on the calendars, but an optional holiday for those who wish to celebrate it can do so, the rest of us can continue to be productive members of society.