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Columbus, are honored with national holidays, lhey contended that while King was no doubt a hero to blacks, others, such as Thomas Jefferson, Madison or Lincoln, were more worthy of the honor.
The far larger reason, of course, although acknowledged only with a wink and left unsaid, is that many still view a national holiday for any black person w'ith revulsion. They are especially appalled by the thought of honoring one who had led in upsetting the South’s centuries-old tradition of black subservience, and in wrecking the comfortable (for whites) doctrine of white supremacy.
Well, King was not the first figure of national prominence to be accused of amorous adventuring. Similar charges, real or fanciful, were levelled at, for example, Washington, Jefferson, Cleveland, Harding, FDR, Eisenhower and Jack Kennedy, to name but a few.
What it comes down to is the fact that the private morals of public men have seldom been in accurate yardstick with which to measure their public worth. Beyond that, another young crusader, this one from Nazareth, had some advice on the subject 20 centures ago. He said, in effect, “Let him who is guiltless among you cast the first stone.”
King was, indeed, an outspoken critic of the Vietnam war, and he did speak admiringly of the North Vietnam leader. But it must be remembered that King had seen black children killed when their church was bombed.
He had seen the brutal burning of civil rights buses, the ambush murder of black leaders, and the police dogs and firehoses turned on his people. He had been repeatedly jailed for asserting his rights under the Constitution. When he saw the systematic and legally sanctioned violation of his strongly held principals, he rebelled.
Actually, in one of the ironies of history, Gen. Robert E. Lee did essentially the same thing for the same reason.
In truth, King’s crusade to win political and employment equity for his people under American capitalism was about as far from a Community activity as you can get.
The third objection had somewhat more merit. There are, indeed, many heroes of the Republic, more prominent than King, who would appear to stand ahead of him in line for the national holiday honors.
But then, King’s case is different from all the others.
Black Americans make up our most numerous and most visible minority group. Yet unlike the other miniorities - the Irish, Jews, Germans, Orientals and others - they, alone, came to these shores involuntarily. The others arrived seeking the blessings of freedom in the new land; the blacks came in chains on slave ships.
The other minorities were able to make their way into the mainstream of American society. The blacks were prevented by law and custom from doing so.
For nearly 250 years they were servants and slaves, and their condition worsened with each passing decade. After the War Between the States and emancipation, for the next century they were the victims of institutionalized, government-condoned and often brutal discrimination.
When Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Ala. in 1956, the civil rights battle was joined, and the 27year-old Martin Luther King Jr. became its spiritual leader.
For the first time in human history, the members of an oppressed minority group fought not to destroy their oppressors, but only to have a just share in their society; not to overturn the existing order, but to make that order live up to the promises of its own Constitution. Thus both Washington and King led revolutions, each in its own way unique in history, to set their people free.
In spite of the bombed churches, burned buses, police dogs, firehoses and his own assassination, King’s dream won, or at least the stage has been set for its ultimate victory.
Through his efforts 26 million black Americans now have a chance to participate in the rights and responsibilities which go with citizenship, and understandably those millions want to do King honor.
It has, after all, taken them 350 years to be able to enter into the life of their own country and to walk uprightly as fully free citizens.
In spite of the criticism of the bill’s opponents, Senators Warner and Trible are to be congratulated for their courageous votes on the measure.
While the holiday honors Dr. King, it should also be viewed by all Americans as a celebration of the truth that the tree of liberty is alive and well, and, however slowly, continues to grow' and extend its shelter.
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