Sanitizing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

(www.huffingtonpost.com)

Next week Monday will be Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day to celebrate Dr. King's achievements.  It's celebrated every third Monday in January.  It was signed into law by President Reagan in 1983 in some States but in other States, it wasn't implemented until 2000 (Wikipedia).  Dr. King was a civil rights leader who spoke up against the atrocities black people faced in the United States, especially Jim Crow.  Now we all know that Dr. King fought for equality for black people but after he died (or rather assassinated), he became an icon for togetherness, freedom and equality for everyone.  Isn't that a good thing, you might ask.  Sure, but sometimes I felt that his other messages have been lost and many wheat people often quote Martin Luther King Jr's phrase, "Judge not for the color of my skin," when they're clearly in the wrong or are called out for their racist tendencies.  In fact, in a 1968 article, 75% of the population disapproved of his actions and mind you, he just passed away.  He even had a poor approval rating before his death, especially with his focus on the Vietnam War and the continued disenfranchisement of African-Americans.  Some states such as Arizona and  New Hampshire didn't even celebrate the holiday until 1987 and 1991 respectively.  So it was rather interesting that they chose to celebrate the sanitized version of Dr. King instead of acknowledging the revolutionary fight he started before he died.  I wondered what Dr. King would say if he was alive today.  The income gap between whites and blacks is worsening every year, birth mortality rates among black women are disturbingly high and race relations have been deteriorating ever since.  He would be disappointed that's for sure.  So we as a people have a lot of work to do in order to achieve equality in this country.  So instead of running around screaming, "let freedom reign," it's time for us to be honest and try to get rid of the disease in this country and that disease is racism and the mainstream society needs to acknowledge that.   Only then, we'll let freedom reign.