XPost: alt.fan.states.missouri, chi.media, alt.journalism.criticism   
   XPost: sac.general   
   From: rkoch@banmlkday.com   
      
   As the nation gears up to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin   
   Luther King, I would like to encourage all Americans - but   
   particularly my fellow white Americans - to consider who this   
   man really was and why he was murdered.   
      
   You see, most white Americans have reached a point where they   
   can celebrate Dr. King, but that is ONLY because King has been   
   sanitized, stripped of his prophetic zeal, made palatable to   
   whites who 40 years ago may have been among the throngs of fools   
   casting epithets, bricks, and firebombs at Dr. King and his   
   followers.   
      
   Make no mistake about it; Martin Luther King was a radical. If   
   he were alive today, most people in power (read: white people)   
   would hate him, would hate what he was saying, and would hate   
   what he was willing to die for.   
      
   We watch Dr. King's famous "I have a dream" speech and it   
   inspires us, it makes us feel warm and fuzzy. But if that is all   
   Dr. King did - make people feel warm and fuzzy - why was he so   
   reviled?   
      
   Consider the following from the book, "The FBI and Martin Luther   
   King, Jr.: From Solo to Memphis," by David J. Garrow.   
      
   "On November 18, 1964, FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover publically   
   called Martin Luther King, Jr. 'the most notorious liar' in   
   America. Three days later, one of Hoover's top assistants wrote   
   and sent the following anonymous letter to King. Included with   
   the letter was an incriminating tape recording which the FBI had   
   obtained by 'bugging' King's hotel rooms.   
      
   KING   
   In view of your grade... I will not dignify your name with   
   either a Mr. or a Reverend or a Dr. And, your last name calls to   
   mind only the type of King such as King Henry the VIII...   
      
   King, look into your heart. You know you are a complete fraud   
   and a great liability to all of us Negroes. White people in this   
   country have enough frauds of their own but I am sure they don't   
   have one at this time that is any near your equal. You are no   
   clergyman and you know it. I repeat you are a colossal fraud and   
   an evil, vicious one at that. You could not believe in God...   
   Clearly you don't believe in any personal moral principles.   
      
   King, like all frauds your end is approaching. You could have   
   been our greatest leader. You, even at an early age have turned   
   out to be not a leader but a dissolute, abnormal moral imbecile.   
   We will now have to depend on our old leaders like Wilkins a man   
   of character and thank God we have others like him. But you are   
   done. Your "honorary" degrees, your Nobel Prize (what a grim   
   farce) and other awards will not save you. King, I repeat you   
   are done.   
      
   No person can overcome facts, not even a fraud like yourself...   
   I repeat- no person can argue successfully against facts. You   
   are finished... Satan could not do more. What incredible   
   evilness... King you are done.   
      
   The American public, the church organizations that have been   
   helping - Protestant, Catholic and Jews will know you for what   
   you are - evil, abnormal beast. So will others who have backed   
   you. You are done.   
      
   King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what   
   it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number   
   has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite   
   practical significant [sic]). You are done. There is but one way   
   out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal   
   fraudulent self is bared to the nation."   
      
   Read those words again. Really, stop and read them. If Dr. King   
   was someone who made us feel warm and fuzzy; if Dr. King was   
   someone who could and should be celebrated; if Dr. King was   
   someone who simply inspired people; then why would such a   
   disgusting letter be written to him by the FBI? Why would people   
   have thrown bricks and M80s at him? Why was he jailed? Why were   
   his followers beaten? Why was he cut down by an assassin's   
   bullet on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis?   
      
   Why? Because he was a radical; because he preached God's good   
   news to the poor; because he made people who benefited from the   
   status quo incredibly uncomfortable; and like all the great   
   prophets before him, he was killed for doing these.   
      
   So instead of celebrating Martin Luther King as the inspiring   
   leader that makes you feel good, I encourage you to celebrate   
   him honestly, and honor Martin Luther King as the revolutionary   
   that he truly was.   
      
   A simple way of doing this might be to consider what Dr. King   
   may have stood for today and what he might have said about the   
   current state of affairs in our nation.   
      
   I would argue that it is fair to say, based on his words and   
   example, that if Dr. King were alive in 2011, he would say that:   
      
   The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are unjust.   
      
   The disparity of wealth between the rich and the poor in America   
   is unjust.   
      
   The influence of corporate money in American politics is unjust.   
      
   And so on...   
      
   As he did when he was alive, Dr. King would prophetically speak   
   the truth of God and he would demand that these wrongs of war,   
   economic injustice and failures in democracy, be set right. And   
   Dr. King would go beyond words, he would take action - he would   
   put his feet in the street and his body on the line and he would   
   rally others to do so. And in doing these things, Dr. King would   
   encourage the wrath of the majority in our nation, particularly   
   those who benefit from the status quo, and they would hate him   
   for it and they would wish him dead.   
      
   Have the courage to think of that on January 17th.   
      
   That is what this national holiday should be about - deep   
   reflection on Dr. King's life and mission and whether or not   
   each (or any) of us has the desire and the courage to truly   
   bring his dream to reality in these United States of America.   
      
   Peace (and Justice),   
      
   Jim Keady   
      
   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-keady/do-you-really-want-to-   
   cel_b_809799.html   
      
      
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)