MLK Day

I was listening yesterday to the Peter Heck Show - a daily habit of mine - and heard Mr. Heck read a quote one of Martin Luther King's speeches. The words were powerful, Biblical, and inspiring. There was nothing there that a good Christian would not embrace.

Heck always speaks of King as one of his favorite American leaders, but I've noticed that he pretty much sticks with the "words and ideas" in the speeches - and handles the legacy, and those that followed King in a much different way.

Ah. That's the trouble we conservatives have with MLK. That's the problem we have with a man that - perhaps more than any other - helped America to "grow up" and "live up" to its belief that all men are created equal. Not only is the socialism of the Great Society forever linked with the Civil Rights movement - it is accompanied also with the destruction of the African-American family as well, something that MLK never intended. Quotas and Affirmative Action are not mentioned in the his speeches, but they are as much a part of the movement as ending segregation. Busing and MLK's anti-Vietnam rhetoric are also issues that conservatives must deal with.

So every January Blacks and Whites, Conservatives and Liberals, join for a moment to celebrate a man - a metamorphosis in America's character - and an ideal that held promise. But the legacy and so many realities will always remain a place to part ways.