rightwinger
Award Winning USMB Paid Messageboard Poster
- Aug 4, 2009
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I grew up in the 60's and saw most of the Civil Rights movement. Like most Americans, I was outraged at the assasination of Dr King. When we talked about giving him a national holiday ten years later, I looked at it as a form of appeasement for outraged blacks.....a way of giving them their own holiday to quiet them down.
In reading about the Civil Rights movement in subsequent years, I realized what a great American Dr King was. Black Americans came back after WWII to find that despite fighting and dying in defense of their country, they were still treated like lesser Americans. They found they were not allowed to mingle with whites, were not welcome in much of the country they had fought for. Blacks were considered to be dirty, diseased and sub human. Some whites were outraged at the thought of eating with blacks, using the same restrooms, riding on public transportation with them.
As black Americans began to protest their treatment in their own country they were met with harsh resistance from both white militants and governments who swore to support inequal treatment. Blacks were denied the right to vote, to freely associate, rights to a fair trial. Those who resisted were met with terrorist attacks. Lynchings, bombings, arrest and assasination of their leaders.
Most of us faced with such horrific treatment in our own homeland would fight violence with violence. How would you react if someone spat on your child for trying to go to school?
When the courts did not protect blacks, armed conflict would seem a reasonable response. Dr King knew violence would only result in more violence against you. He modeled the Civil Rights movement around Gandhis peaceful resistance theories. By using cameras to document the treatment of peaceful protestors he saved this country from an armed violent protest that would have destroyed this country.
America returned from WWII as an economic and military superpower. But a country that does not treat its citizens with respect is not a moral superpower. By changing the way we treat our citizens, Dr King, more importantly, saved our soul. By forcing us to look in a mirror and see who we really are, he enabled us to become a truly great country.
On this Martin Luther King day I hope everyone can reflect on what a great American he was and how much better off we all are
In reading about the Civil Rights movement in subsequent years, I realized what a great American Dr King was. Black Americans came back after WWII to find that despite fighting and dying in defense of their country, they were still treated like lesser Americans. They found they were not allowed to mingle with whites, were not welcome in much of the country they had fought for. Blacks were considered to be dirty, diseased and sub human. Some whites were outraged at the thought of eating with blacks, using the same restrooms, riding on public transportation with them.
As black Americans began to protest their treatment in their own country they were met with harsh resistance from both white militants and governments who swore to support inequal treatment. Blacks were denied the right to vote, to freely associate, rights to a fair trial. Those who resisted were met with terrorist attacks. Lynchings, bombings, arrest and assasination of their leaders.
Most of us faced with such horrific treatment in our own homeland would fight violence with violence. How would you react if someone spat on your child for trying to go to school?
When the courts did not protect blacks, armed conflict would seem a reasonable response. Dr King knew violence would only result in more violence against you. He modeled the Civil Rights movement around Gandhis peaceful resistance theories. By using cameras to document the treatment of peaceful protestors he saved this country from an armed violent protest that would have destroyed this country.
America returned from WWII as an economic and military superpower. But a country that does not treat its citizens with respect is not a moral superpower. By changing the way we treat our citizens, Dr King, more importantly, saved our soul. By forcing us to look in a mirror and see who we really are, he enabled us to become a truly great country.
On this Martin Luther King day I hope everyone can reflect on what a great American he was and how much better off we all are