Tag Archive for: Dr. Martin Luther King

Why the Left Hates Martin Luther King

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Leftists hate MLK because they care more about color of skin than content of character (Kendall Qualls)

“The Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) holiday ironically honors values despised by many on the left. King’s intellectual and moral challenge to judge people by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin, is in direct opposition to leftists’ narrative that judging people’s value begins with their skin color.

Keep in mind that many on the left never agreed with MLK’s nonviolent movement of protest in the 1960s. Stokely Carmichael, the originator of the black nationalist movement (Black Power) and the Black Panthers, once stated, “When you talk of Black power, you talk of building a movement that will smash everything Western civilization has created.” Many followers of this movement enrolled in colleges in the 1970s, earned doctoral degrees in African studies (or grievance studies), and now lead or have major influence in local, state, and federal agencies, academia, the arts, and media.

While the radicals were developing leadership roles, the majority of Americans accepted MLK’s vision of judging people by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. Hence, many people would use the phrase, “I don’t see color” to confirm their buy-in of that vision. In fact, based on a Gallup poll, nearly 70 percent of Americans, black and white, rated race relations either good or very good back in 2002.”

Today’s Race Extremists Are Destroying Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy

Martin Luther King, Jr. would be shocked by the regression in America since he led the civil rights movement.

By: Scott Powell, The Federalist, January 15, 2024:l

Why do we celebrate a holiday honoring a man who was jailed 29 times and ultimately assassinated? What lessons can we learn from Martin Luther King, Jr. and from American society, much of which seems to have forgotten the contributions that led to bestowing on him a national holiday?

King, a powerful pastor and speaker, was both the catalyst for and the central figure in the civil rights movement that extended from 1955 to 1968. MLK’s sermons, speeches, and writings portray a man with an unusually discerning mind grounded in timeless truths. MLK was all about non-violent action to bring about racial and social healing through public debate and protest.

Hard to come to grips with today is how the power, healing, and truth of his message can be overshadowed by today’s divisive and demoralizing philosophies of critical race theory (CRT) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). These divide rather than unite society. MLK stressed the importance of bringing people together through constructive dialogue and seeing all people as made in God’s image. In contrast, those who have recently claimed to hold the torch of civil rights, such as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, generally do so through militant action, malicious language, and confrontation.

The extremist identity politics movement in the United States is largely the progeny of BLM, an organization founded by Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza, who self-identify as Marxists. For those who relate identity politics to progress, a gnawing question still haunts: What good ever came out of Marxism? While some newcomers might idealistically presuppose their cause is about a socialist utopia, Marxist rule in practice has a sad history of delivering poverty, corruption, and mass death across diverse cultures.

Were it possible to resurrect and transport King into the present, he would be shocked by the regression that has taken place in America in the three generations since he led the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He would reject the eclipse of the group, sexual, and ethnic identity paradigm over the individual merit and character-based approach for acceptance and advancement, whether in school admission or hiring and promotion in the workplace. King would condemn critical race theory because it perpetuates negative racial stereotypes against white people.

King recognized that the self-evident truth in the Declaration of Independence “that all men are created equal…with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” wasn’t realized in 1776, nor when the United Constitution was ratified some 14 years later. Nor was Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” proposition “that all men are created equal” fulfilled through the Civil War emancipation of slaves.

In King’s most famous “I have a dream” speech, delivered from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963, he called America to rise up and fulfill its spiritual destiny. To the self-evident truth of all people having equal value, King added an equally timeless truth, that people “should not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

One of the timeless truths King referred to on numerous occasions was Paul’s letter to the Romans, in which he says, “Do not conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed in the renewing of your mind.” King also drew on Thomas Jefferson’s statement, “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” He warned in a sermon as early as 1954, recorded in his book, Strength to Love, that “If Americans permit thought-control, business-control and freedom-control to continue, we shall surely move within the shadows of fascism.”

Seventy years later, we have moved way beyond shadows and now live in a matrix of fascism and communism that operate throughout most institutions within the United States under the camouflage of being woke, enlightened, and inclusive. Few American leaders have been as clearheaded about the dangers of groupthink as King. He reminds us of Emerson’s words: “Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist.”

Drawing on Apostle Paul’s teachings, King implored that, “Any Christian who blindly accepts the opinions of the majority and in fear and timidity follows a path of expediency and social approval is a mental and spiritual slave.” King also commended those who went against the crowd, reminding us that, “The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been nonconformists…[so] in any cause that concerns the progress of mankind, put your faith in the nonconformist!”

King’s lesser-known speeches and sermons also provide prescient insight into our times. On numerous occasions, he quoted scripture about the need to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves,” arguing for people to adopt a tough mind and a tender heart. He expressed concern that the “prevalent tendency toward softmindedness is found in man’s unbelievable gullibility.” “Few people have the toughness of mind to judge critically and to discern the truth from the false, the fact from the fiction,” he noted.

Keep reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Republicans Are Nowhere to Be Found

/in , , , /by

In many ways, like Job in the Bible, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me (Job 3:25 King James Version).

I was hoping against all hope that the Republican Party would do something to really pay homage to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday today.  But, like Job, I have been forced to conclude “that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”

Republicans are a national party, control 31 out of 50 governors, control the U.S House of Representatives and control the U.S. Senate; and the party as a whole, has done nothing to celebrate the contribution King made to Blacks, America, and the world.

I am sure a Republican somewhere has issued the annual perfunctory press release; but why the party doesn’t take this occasion to sit at the feet of Black Republican luminaries who worked with King is baffling to me.

King actually frequently stayed in the home of Bob Brown in Hickory, North Carolina.  I have stayed at Bob’s house and it is a living museum of American and world history.  There are personal photos and letters from King to Bob.  There are handwritten notes to Bob from former South African president Nelson Mandela when he was in prison.  There are volumes of letters and photos from world leaders to Bob.

There are photos of Bob with every U.S. president from Nixon to the present.  Bob is a walking history book of the Civil Rights movement and a lifetime Republican.

You have Bill Coleman, the first Black to serve as a cabinet secretary in the history of America.  He was law partners with former U.S. Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall; and they both argued the famous Brown vs Board of Education case before the Supreme Court.  Oh, and Coleman is another lifetime Republican.

There are Black Republicans all over the country who worked deeply in the Civil Rights movement, but the party has no idea who they are.  The few Black staffers who work within various Republican entities have no idea who these people are, nor do they have any curiosity to discover who these people are that paved the way for them.

At best, a Republican leader might attend a MLK event being sponsored by a liberal Black Democratic organization (their local NAACP, etc.).

But why should that be the case when Republicans are very capable of doing both local and national pro-life events all over the country?  They don’t simply issue perfunctory press releases.  Why?

Because the party obviously puts a certain value on the pro-life issue and its supporters.  I will leave you to make your own conclusions of this issue relative to MLK’s holiday.

Not one presidential campaign has a campaign event celebrating King’s birthday; but they all run over each other to get in front of a camera for Reagan’s birthday.  Again, I will leave you to make your own conclusions of this issue relative to MLK’s holiday.

In politics, optics matter and my party is totally tone deaf when it comes to optics within the Black community.  Spouses tend not to forget their significant other’s birthday because they know it is important to them.

Memo to Republicans, MLK’s birthday is very important to Blacks and more broadly to America.

With control of congress, 31 governorships, and a majority of state legislatures, and a national party; you really expect me to believe we couldn’t have orchestrated a series of national and local MLK celebrations?

The party, at every level, should have organized Black businessmen all across the country to have a discussion of a 21st century version of Civil Rights to address issues like: entrepreneurship, access to capital, education, crime & justice.

What policy solutions are Republicans in congress willing to offer to address these issues?

But they also need to sit at the feet of people like the Bob Browns and the Bill Colmans.  These are the people the party must consult with relative to the voting rights case that the Supreme Court ruled on a few years ago regarding section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

You would think that the occasion of King’s birthday would be a time the Republican Party can come together with Black Republicans and discuss how to restore the party to being the party of Lincoln.

But if the party can’t honor one of our own icons, how can we honor them with our vote?

Obama has been an abject failure as president relative to the Black community.  Republicans have the right message for the Black community; but they must engage with Black Republicans who have institutional memory and relationships with the Browns and the Colemans.

The window is closing fast on the Republican Party for this year’s presidential election and beyond.  If the party doesn’t start engaging with the Black community in a meaningful way, Democrats will yet again win the white house and forever change the fabric of our country irreparably.

6 Reasons Pamela Geller’s Muhammad Cartoon Contest Is No Different From Selma

/in , , , , /by

“In 1965, defying racist Democrats posed a legitimate threat to your life. In 2015, defying jihadists poses a legitimate threat to your life. Martin Luther King knowingly risked his life. Pamela Geller knowingly risks her life.”

This piece is brilliant in its clarity. Leftists and Islamic supremacists have, of course, reduced it to “Nolte likens Pamela Geller to Martin Luther King!” but that is not the point at all, although there really isn’t any problem with the comparison anyway. The point is that both “provoked” an oppressor to expose him as such, at risk to their lives. One is revered, one is excoriated. Both are heroes.

“6 Reasons Pamela Geller’s Muhammad Cartoon Contest Is No Different From Selma,” by John Nolte, Breitbart, May 9, 2015:

When you are dealing with the mainstream media, it is always difficult to tell if you are dealing with willful ignorance or just plain old ignorance-ignorance. There are plenty of moronic savants in the national media who have cracked the “hot take” code to please their left-wing masters but have no fundamental grasp of history, or much of anything much of else.

The act of willful ignorance in the media manifests itself through bias, and lies of omission conjured up to serve that bias. These dishonest liars know they are dishonest liars, and willfully choose to not tell the world pertinent facts like, say, Baltimore has been run by Democrats for a half-century, Hillary Clinton is in favor of legally aborting infants born alive, Ted Kennedy abandoned a drowning woman, and George Zimmerman is Hispanic.

Anyone who knows anything about history understands that tactically and morally, Geller’s provocative Muhammad Cartoon Contest was no different than Dr. Martin Luther King’s landmark march from Selma to Montgomery.

The first thing the spittle-flecked will scream upon reading the above is that I am comparing Geller to King. I did not know King. I do not know Geller. I am not comparing anyone to anyone. What I’m comparing is one righteous cause to another.

The second thing the spittle-flecked will scream is that King never would have held a Draw Muhammad Cartoon Contest … which brings me to the first reason there is no moral or tactical difference between Garland and Selma:

The Oppressor Chooses the Form of Protest, Not the Protester

Whether it is a bully stealing lunch money, an abusive husband “keeping the little woman in line,” a government passing unjust laws, or religious zealots demanding fealty from all, oppressors come in all shapes and sizes.

Oppressors do, however, share three important things in common: 1) The use of the threats of everything from shaming to instituting unjust laws to violence. 2) The goal of stripping others of their rights. 3) The choosing of the design and structure of whatever defiant protest might take place against them.

The protester has absolutely no say in this matter.

The only way to defy and protest against the bully who takes your lunch money, is to not give him your lunch money. Through his own actions the bully has designed the form of protest. The same is true for the abusive husband. If he is using the threat of violence to keep you “in line,” a defiant protest can only come in one form: doing the exact opposite of what he tells you to do or not to do.

If an unjust government passes a law making it illegal to sit in the front of the bus, the only way to protest the unjust government is to sit in the front of the bus.

Martin Luther King did not choose his form of protest in Selma. Racist Southern Democrats did.

Pamela Geller did not choose her form of protest in Garland. The jihadists did.

The day that changed America is called “Bloody Sunday.” On March 7, 1965, five-hundred-plus civil rights activists provoked violence from their oppressors by defiantly gathering on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

It was the oppressor who chose this form of protest, not the protestors. Racist Democrats who ran Selma and the state of Alabama refused to authorize the march and pledged to stop it. Therefore the only righteous way to defy these racist Democrats who refused to allow Americans to exercise their God-given right to protest for their God-given rights, was to go ahead with the march.

What was true in Selma 50 years ago also was true in Garland 5 days ago.

It was the jihadists who told us they would oppress us with violence if we exercised our God-given rights to draw and satirize Muhammad. Therefore, to righteously defy this oppression, Pam Geller and the 200 others had no other choice but to draw and satirize Muhammad (more details on this below).

The Deliberatively Provocative Symbolism of the Site of the Protest

The launch point of the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery was no accident. To poke a finger deep in the eye of their racist Democrat oppressors, civil rights organizers deliberately chose the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The bridge is named after a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, a confederate Civil War general, and a Democrat U.S. Senator.

Starting their civil rights crusade in such a place was an intentional taunt, an open insult to a diseased culture, and an obvious act of cultural blasphemy.

For the same righteous reasons, Geller chose the site of The Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, to hold her defiant cartoon protest. Just two weeks after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in France, a Stand with the Prophet in Honor and Respect event was held at the Curtis Calwell Center. The Islamic event was a horror show of extremism.

An unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings was invited to the conference — a barbarian who has declared the F.B.I. a terrorist group and preaches, “This so-called democracy of America, will crumble and there will be nothing. The only thing that will remain will be Islam.”

The organizer of the event, Malik Muhammad, has advocated for Sharia Law here in America.

The entire event was premised on “defeating” those who disrespect Muhammad. This was all couched under the politically correct term of “Islamophobia,” but here is the rub:

“Frustrated with Islamophobes defaming the Prophet?” the event materials ask. … “Remember the Danish cartoons defaming the Prophet? Or the anti-Islam film, ‘Innocence of Muslims’?”

Like I said: it is the oppressor who chooses the form of protest.

A Righteous Cause for Civil Rights

In the face of a very real danger, Martin Luther King, his fellow organizers and hundreds of free Americans, stood up and defied their savage oppressors in defense of their God-given rights.

They provoked violence, taunted, and broke the law, all in furtherance of a righteous cause.

In the face of a very real danger, Pam Geller, her fellow organizers and hundreds of free Americans, stood up and defied their violent oppressors in defense of their God-given rights.

They provoked violence, taunted, and obeyed the law, all in furtherance of a righteous cause.

I Come In Peace

The Selma protesters defying their violent oppressors, did so peacefully. Their only provocation was exercising their rights.

The Garland protestors defying their violent oppressors, did so peacefully. Their only provocation was exercising their rights.

Democrat Bigots Victim-Blame

While much of the national media sided with the Selma protestors, local Democrats in the media and the political establishment blamed and demonized King, and his followers, for rocking the boat, provoking violence, insulting the local culture, and causing the violence to happen.

Last week, Democrats in the media (New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, and even some sorry corners of Fox News) and the political establishment blamed and demonized Geller, and her followers, for rocking the boat, provoking violence, insulting a culture, and causing the violence to happen.

The 1965 Democrats and today’s Democrats are also bigots. The same CNN that protects Islam from offense by blurring the Muhammad cartoons, does not blur the Piss Christ.

The same New York Times that blasts those who offend Islam, profits from Mormon bashing.

Every one of these present-day media Democrats are silent in the defense of satire and mockery directed Christianity, or they enjoy and defend it. The opposite is true of satire and mockery directed at Islam. And that is the very definition of bigotry.

For the Righteous Cause of Freedom, People Risk Their Lives

In 1965, defying racist Democrats posed a legitimate threat to your life.

In 2015, defying jihadists poses a legitimate threat to your life.

Martin Luther King knowingly risked his life. Pamela Geller knowingly risks her life.

In both good and evil ways, Sunday in Garland, Texas, history repeated itself.

The national media is hiding that fact because they are either too bigoted, cowardly, and biased to tell the truth, or too ignorant to see the truth.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Malaysia: Muslim leader forbids Mother’s Day, says it honors Virgin Mary

SNL skit depicts fear of drawing Muhammad

Iran Holds Holocaust Cartoon Contest, Draws Nearly a Thousand Entries

Remembering MLK: Judging people by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character

/in , , , , /by

August 28, 2014 marks the fifty-first anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech. Question: Is Dr. King’s dream alive and well today, or not?

We have written about two tragedies that occurred on Saturday, August 9th, 2014. Two Americans lost their lives. One was a Rabbi on his way to a shul (synagogue) in North Miami Beach, Florida and the second a black man walking down the middle of a street in Ferguson, Missouri. The reaction to each shooting may indicate how alive and well the dream Dr. Martin Luther King spoke about in his speech at the Lincoln Memorial truly is. Dr. King said:

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

[ … ]

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.

Rabbi Joseph Raksin

Rabbi Joseph Raksin

Are Joseph Raksin and Michael Brown being judged based upon the color of their skins or the content of their characters? Are government officials and the media treating both shootings equally? Is the law treating each shooting equally?

If Dr. King was correct, then our dream must be “deeply rooted in the America dream.” Both men deserve equal justice under the law. To do otherwise destroys the very foundation of the civil rights movement.

michael brown photo with gun

Michael Brown (with gun).

Should a white holy man not receive the same media and legal attention as a black man with a criminal record and history of violence? Should not both men’s shootings garner the same level of justice under the law? Should not both men’s families and funerals be covered equally by the media? Should not our highest elected and civic leaders show empathy, and more importantly, seek equal justice under the law for both men?

Apparently not. As we have witnessed since August 9th, 2014, there is growing evidence that men are being judged in the public square by the color of their skin rather than the content of their characters.

As Dr. King warned in 1963:

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.

[ … ]

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest 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 a distrust of 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.

Jews and blacks have both been the victims of hate and racial animus. Both have suffered great harm at the hands of those who would make them second class citizens. Even today both are put upon across the globe. But their history as a people is not why each should be treated equally. They should be treated equally because they are both Americans.

Is Dr. King’s dream alive and well today, or not? You be the judge.

VIDEO: Theodore “Ted” Hayes, Jr. – We are Americans