Tag Archives: Dr. Martin Luther King

Giants to midgets

Posted on April 4, 2008 | Comments Off on Giants to midgets

When Dr. King was murdered, forty years ago today, a pall of shock fell over our almost-entirely white class at Infantry Officer’s Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga. His goal of changing hearts and minds certainly had affected all of ours. If anyone was racist enough to be glad–and many of us were Southerners–they hid it well. They knew they would find no approbation. We knew that a giant had passed. We didn’t guess there would be only midgets to follow.

MORE: The detail nobody remembers: Dr. King was a Republican. Or that a Republican won passage of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act that banned segregation in stores and other "public accomodations."

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Posted in Infantry OCS, Obituaries, Scribbles

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Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

Posted on January 15, 2007 | Comments Off on Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

When I was fourteen, in 1958, my father and I rode a train to Mississippi and stopped at a depot near the little county seat where he grew up. I can still hear him shouting at the elderly black porter as we got down: "Boy! Boy!" And I still see the old man shuffling towards us to carry our bags. Today, practically every public office in that town is held by a black person. Courtesy and a lot more besides also has changed since Dr. King said these words the day before he was assassinated:

"Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

Via Power Line 

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Posted in Blogosphere, Scribbles

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