Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Day, but few will remember - and the main stream media certainly won't remind you - that it was a Republican President who designated the day as a national holiday.

Ronald Reagan signed the MLK holiday bill in 1983, after Congress found a compromise on the date. Dr. King's birthday, Jan. 15th, was thought to be too close to the New Year holiday so legislators agreed on the third Monday instead.

Dr. King was a Republican, as his niece Alveda King explains, though Democrats go ballistic when they hear this.



Perhaps Dr. King's best-known quote comes from his "I Have A Dream" speech:

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character..."

But in that same speech he also had a warning:

"And that is something that I must say to my people who stand on the worn threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone."

Sadly, we cannot know what he would think of today's Black leaders or of the reverse discrimination inherent in Affirmative Action. As happens more than it should, good teachings are often distorted for personal purposes which is why it is important for each of us to research, on our own, the words from Dr. King's mouth and apply them to our lives.