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wouc wdo tUC oyiUUUlUilll llivuivea. For blacks that symbolism is not complicated. To a million black Virginians he is an authentic hero; a man who more nearly approximates a Moses than a George Washington or a Thomas Jefferson. In truth, white Virginians have no hero who stands quite as tall as does Dr. King in the eyes of his people. He is larger than life, and understandably they want to do him honor. To blacks he remains a symbol of hope. And the bill, had it passed, would have been seen as a signal from the predominately white community that the hope was accepted as legitimate and shared. But for many whites—especially older whites— the King symbolism is of a far different kind. For them, Dr. King represents the one thing which, for many, is feared above all others, and that is change. This fear was etched in the faces of many who testified at the hearing. Dr. King had destroyed their world, or at least they perceived that he had. He had wrecked the social milieu into which they had been bom, and in which they had felt secure and safe. He had upset an order so settled and well-established that surely it must have been ordained by God. And they would be damned if they were going to give him a holiday for doing it! If they couldn’t block the change, at least they could get a measure of revenge against the man who brought it about, and impose a measure of hurt on those whom the change benefitted. For the moment at least, the General Assembly has gone along with them. But only for the moment, because the hard truth is the change has come, and it is irreversible. And Martin Luther King, Jr. still stands there, a symbol larger than life.
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