King's peace legacy praised after Arizona shootings

“If Dr King could speak to us today, he would tell us that it does not matter how much we disapprove of another persons point of view, there is never a reason to deny another human being the respect he or she deserves,” Lewis said.

I totally agree.

Few things show greater disrespect than the tendency by people to misrepresent events to deny or excuse their support of clear injustices.

The day was an opportunity for the NAACP to underscore its opposition in South Carolina to a Confederate flag that flies outside the Statehouse,

The confederate flag is a symbol of the treason and sedition that led to the deaths of more Americans than any war or event in our history.

King was a great Republican, and a true crusader for reform of the old Democrat south.. He would be disgusted by the identity politics of today.

King was a great Republican, and a true crusader for reform of the old Democrat south.. He would be disgusted by the identity politics of today

"Martin Luther King was a devotee of action-oriented Marxism and his movement was a haven for communists." Republican Senator Jesse Helms, during his 1983 filibuster of the MLK holiday we observe today. Clearly, many Republicans did not view him as a fellow Republican, much less a great one.

To most Americans, the third Monday in January is just another day.

RR

"Clearly, many Republicans did not view him as a fellow Republican, much less a great one."

You can take the word of Jesse Helms.

But blood is thicker.

And King's niece (Dr. Alveda King) is today a Republican and a civil rights activist.

Like the liberal party hacks, Holder still tries to present the Arizona shooting as a political assassination.

Meanwhile, even the NYC has reluctantly acknowledged that the shooter, was a GW Bush hater and a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.

So, will he now give the liberal talking heads the Palin treatment? Don´t hold your breath.

But blood is thicker

How many of King's sons and daughters are involved in Democratic politics? (Answer: All of them.)

Which is why you didn't mention them but had to look to a more distant relative in an attempt to make a very dubious point. As RomeoRamenII put it, most conservative/right-wing types don't think much of the man or the day that honors him.

Republicans certainly don't appear to honor King's message of non-violence and social justice.

had to look to a more distant relative

Yes, the one that, like the murdered civil rights leader, opposes abortion.

Republicans certainly don't appear to honor King's message of non-violence and social justice

King was also pro-Israel. Liberals are as usual quite selective about his legacy.

Yes, the one that, like the murdered civil rights leader, opposes abortion

I see you left King's main legacy -- that of non-violence and social justice -- untouched and uncommented on. Just as the fact that all of his direct descendants are involved with the party that's in opposition to the Republicans.

Instead, you appear to want to use King, as many want to, as a cardboard cut-out for your own personal political views.

While King opposed abortion on spiritual and non-violent reasons, he was also opposed to the government making laws that would subject women to greater violence and injustice -- and was on record as supporting family planning and birth control, and would certainly have supported wide distribution of the morning-after pill as a means to decrease the need for abortions.

King was always pro-peace, not pro-Israel. Or Pro-any other country for that matter.

Yes, the one that, like the murdered civil rights leader, opposes abortion

There is another way to read the above statement, which I caught on the second go-round, and it is this: "In order to adhere to the legacy of Dr. King, opposition to abortion is a must."

Well, that statement is false. There are terrific and compelling arguments to be made in favor of laws allowing women to receive abortions without making them or the doctors who perform them criminals. King, in his writings, often alluded to the reality that using the power of state to compel people to act according to the dictates of one group's interpretation of sin puts man at risk of a far greater evil than the sin being legislated against.

"I see you left King's main legacy -- that of non-violence and social justice -- untouched and uncommented on."

King was, if anything, a devout Christian and therefore opposed to violence. That goes without mentioning when commenting upon the life of a reverend, named by his preacher father after Martin Luther.

And for the record - all justice is "social." A need to redefine the terms betrays bad faith.

I hasten to add that the idea of using state power to compel righteous behavior did not originate with King, but can be found in many of the writings of the thinkers that King claimed were is his greatest influences: Thoreau, Emerson, etc.

All you have to do is come on here and see how Republicans bash the man or say he was nothing special to see what Republican politics are all about. Of course, when you're internationally embarrassed as LePage has been you might be quick to change your tune and at least PRETEND to be interested in King and black people. That's really no surprise, though.

And for the record - all justice is "social." A need to redefine the terms betrays bad faith.

I believe, for the record, that while genuine justice may be social, all justice is not -- since any decision may be viewed as just or unjust depending on the circumstance. For example the "justice" meted out against African-Americans in courthouses where not a single African-American was in the jury could not have been genuine justice, although it did reflect the wishes of the dominant society of the time.

The move to change that was Dr. King's life's work, which was active, non-violent resistance to the overwhelming injustices and consequent lack of peace of American society.

"Of course, when you're internationally embarrassed as LePage has been you might be quick to change your tune and at least PRETEND to be interested in King and black people."

"Internationally" embarrassed? Gov LePage's international critics are apparently unaware that he and his wife are putting through college a young Jamaican man (black) who has been part of their family since he came to America at seventeen.

Thoreau - - as in Henry David - - believed that the State could impel citizens to "righteous behavior"?????

That is the most absurd thing I have read on this website.

Thoreau - - as in Henry David - - believed that the State could impel citizens to "righteous behavior"?????

LOL!! Of course, Thoreau believed that the State would certainly TRY to do just that.

That is the most absurd thing I have read on this website

If you meant "impel," then maybe. The word is "compel." It forms one of the main points in Thoreau's essay On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.

Gov LePage's international critics are apparently unaware that he and his wife are putting through college a young Jamaican man (black) who has been part of their family since he came to America at seventeen.

Frankly, I find this notion quite amazing: That a public servant can expect to be excused from honoring by his attendance programs dedicated to the legacy of a national icon, just because in his private life he's taking care of someone with a dark complexion.

"Frankly, I find this notion quite amazing: That a public servant can expect to be excused from honoring by his attendance programs dedicated to the legacy of a national icon, just because in his private life he's taking care of someone with a dark complexion."

No one has excused him. But on the other hand I do not believe that as an elected official - not a public servant - he must be compelled to honor this or that national icon. (You could say my position is what Thoreau's would be on that point...)

If I were a Republcian lawmaker I might well boycott the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, if nothing else for simply having forgotten or whitewashed the fact that the organization was founded by Republicans .

sure would have been nice had this much attention and injecting King into the Ft. Hood shootings, which have been completely erased from everyone's minds.

had the Arizona victims been Hispanic, and not Anglo, there wouldn't be a peep. At least Ft. Victims were multi racial.

sure would have been nice had this much attention and injecting King into the Ft. Hood shootings, which have been completely erased from everyone's minds

Or Omar Thornton's murder of five of his co-workers, who he had been led to believe needed to die because they were white and whites are "racist".

Searching for the inspiration for Reverend King's legacy of peace it seems to me would make many of his would-be hagiographers on the Left a little uncomfortable:

"And I want to say that we are not here advocating violence. We have never done that. I want it to be known throughout Montgomery and throughout this nation that we are Christian people. We believe in the Christian religion. We believe in the teachings of Jesus. The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest. That’s all."

Searching for the inspiration for Reverend King's legacy of peace it seems to me would make many of his would-be hagiographers on the Left a little uncomfortable

Why? Because he followed Christ?

I suspect that "turn the other cheek" and "love your enemies" tends to make many of those who claim to follow Him more than a little uncomfortable. I doubt He would endorse preemptive war.

King is the only American who was not a U.S. president to have a federal holiday named in his honor.

Friday, December 31, 2010 New Year’s Day Monday, January 17 Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday, February 21 Washington’s Birthday Monday, May 30 Memorial Day Monday, July 4 Independence Day Monday, September 5 Labor Day Monday, October 10 Columbus Day Friday, November 11 Veterans Day Thursday, November 24 Thanksgiving Day Monday, December 26 Christmas Day

-if you consider Columbus an American then the logic is wrong.

To most Americans, the third Monday in January is just another day.

Is that because King is black?

Assumably most people take the holiday off, if it was just another day, why don't people go to work?

It's unfortunate that so many news outlets have yet to report the bomb that was placed at the parade route of the MLK observances in Spokane, Washington. The device, termed highly lethal by police experts, was found and dismantled by a bomb squad while the parade was rerouted.