Last edited Mon Jan 20, 2014, 01:19 PM - Edit history (1)
The quote is:
"But what most people who reference Dr. King seem not to know is how Dr. King actually changed the subjective experience of life in the United States for African Americans. And yeah, I said for African Americans, not for Americans, because his main impact was his effect on the lives of African Americans, not on Americans in general."
That is the exact WRONG message to send IMO. I grew up in an area that was segregated when I was very young. Desegregation occurred when I was quite young, but old enough to be aware of the cultural strife and even the insults hurled at my Dad for daring to stand up to a segregated business by refusing to spend money there. By the way, he was NOT particularly Liberal. He didn't really respect King, whom he called a rabble-rouser more than once, but he struggled towards fairness in his heart, and when he decided he was not going to patronize segregated businesses, he was liberally called a "nigger-lover" for a few years.
I'm not trying to equate the experience of a straight, white man with the experience of black Americans, but the fact is racism is POISON for everyone living under it. It was poison for my Dad who lost friends, and it was poison for the kids raised to think that way. It still poisons millions today in this country.
BUT.... King made is possible for many millions more to recognize the poison as being unnatural and unhealthy. He made it possible for white kids like me to reject that poison and embrace a better philosophy. He is a genuine hero for ALL Americans. And if perhaps black Americans have benefited more than the rest of us, I am grateful for his legacy, and I am grateful for a better nation he helped shape for my daughter.
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