Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a civil rights icon. His birthday is January 15, and the national holiday that honors him is Monday, January 21. During the holiday, there will be many events taking place that will honor Dr. King and his sacrifices for the sake of civil rights and equality. Choirs will sing classic hymns, including "We Shall Overcome." Preachers will preach. Speakers will speak. Dancers will dance liturgical dances. And somewhere, someone will be doing a spot-on rendition of Dr. King's speeches, including the "I Have A Dream" speech and Dr. King's on eulogy speech. And in Chicago, at least one radio station will play Dr. King's speeches over house music. Yes, there will be many ways to honor Dr. King.
But some people just don't want to do right. They want to "honor" Dr. King by shoehorning him and his image into their own agenda. That's not to say that Dr. King is a deity, but there should be a modicum of respect for the man and what he stood for. The following people do NOT have that modicum of respect.
Free At Last, To Shake Your A**, Thank God Almighty, We Are Free At Last...
According to the site that hosts this image, this was a real flyer.
We've all seen flyers like this before. Some of us may have gone to the "King Holiday Weekend" parties in our own club-hopping days. But to use Dr. King's image for these parties is just ridiculous. There is no reason to do this. The Boondocks summed all of this up nicely in their "Return of the King" episode. If we're going to honor Dr. King, we don't need to deify him. But at the same time, we don't need to put him on pluggers and flyers for parties that have absolutely nothing to do with who he was and what he stood for. When I think of these kinds of flyers, I think of a great line from Public Enemy's "Rightstarters", from their debut album "Yo Bum Rush The Show":
Just growin'/not knowin about your past/now you're lookin' pretty stupid while you're shakin' your a**...
Very stupid, indeed.
We Honor King By Bragging About Guns!!
Pictured: Tone-deaf gun nut
Larry Ward is the chairman of, and is promoting
Gun Appreciation Day. He is also convinced that Dr. King
would have appreciated "Gun Appreciation Day." Yes, because of there is anything that a nonviolent activist, one who promoted non-violent protests even in the face of naked hostility, would appreciate, is the power of the gun. Who else but one who was ASSASSINATED BY A GUNMAN would appreciate what guns mean to this country? If anyone knew anything about Dr. King, they would imagine that the last thing that he would appreciate would be a day that recognizes an instrument of death. That's like saying that Mahatma Gandhi would appreciate "MMA Appreciation Day" or that Lady Gaga would appreciate "Chick Fil A Appreciation Day."
Dr. Martin King Was A Republican, So You Should Be A Republican!
Yeah, um... no.
This is the one that grinds my gears (tm - Peter Griffin) the hardest. The Republican Party of today, as well as their Pet Negro Apologists (like the National Black Republican Association, the guys who parrot this drivel) insist that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King would have been a Republican. While it is obvious that Dr. King would not have been a Democrat at that time, there is no evidence that states that Dr. King was a Republican, or aligned himself with any political party.
And please understand that the Republicans of the Civil Rights Era are NOT the Republicans of today. The Republicans at that time were the progressives, while the Democrats were the conservatives. And in today's Republican party, you have accusations of voter suppression, the harboring and support of racist politicians, and the outright racist attitudes towards the first Black president. Does anyone actually believe that the party that welcomes Patrick Buchanan and David Duke and Sarah Palin would be the kind that would attract a Dr. King? The Republicans of today have called Barack Obama "uppity", and continue to question his citizenship. The Republicans of today have called Barack Obama a "Food stamp President", and they insist that anyone who supported him only does so because they want free stuff, or they have the same skin color.
"You are correct, sir."
The Republican party wants to co-opt the image of King, by cherry-picking and quoting their favorite part of Dr. King's speech, which includes the statement about the content of one's character. But they conveniently ignore the content of character of those who disagree with them. And they CERTAINLY ignore the content of character of those within their ranks, like Boss Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin, ad nauseum ad infinitum.
And finally, remember where Dr. King was, and what he was doing, when he was assassinated. He was in Memphis, Tennessee. He was
supporting the striking sanitation workers there. He was there to support union workers. And we know that to this day, the Republican Party is trying its outright best to DESTROY the unions, both in the public sector and the private sector. This is the complete antithesis of what Dr. King stood for.
So, if the Republicans want to claim Dr. King as one of their own, then they ought to pay attention to what Dr. King supported, and did not support. And until the GOP begins to operate against discrimination, against voter suppression, and against outright racist propaganda directed towards President Obama, and operate in favor of worker rights, fair treatment in the workplace, civil rights for all, and everything else that Dr. King stood for, they need to have several seats.
Yes, the dunce cap is assigned to you too.
