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Well said, writersjourney, and absolutely right. But it is always the job
of our leaders and politicians to point at our ills and say it was done better and we can do better.
posted by
saul_relative
on November 2, 2005 at 9:41 PM
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Did the Essential Message of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Ever Change?
It is always a curious thing when African Americans, and progressive leaders of other ethnic groups, are transformed in death to something that they were not in life -- and the politics and principles they fought for are somehow "revised" and forgotten; their message is distorted once their bodies have been buried.
Dr. King, for example, was highly controversial when he was alive because he actively opposed colonialism and neo-colonialism, he favored a pro-active economic agenda to address the problem of poverty (indeed he died while lending a hand to sanitation workers who were on strike in Memphis), and while he believed that it was important for African Americans to conduct themselves with dignity, he also believed that it was important for white Americans to take a good hard look at instituational as well as interpersonal racism.
Likewise, Rosa Parks -- to the end of her life -- remained active in addressing the ongoing problems of discrimination in employment, housing and the inequities in our school system (so well illustrated by Jonathan Kozol, among others).
Yes, some black youth are wayward; but so are youth in general, in today's commerical culture. Of course, it is harder to cover up the consequences of one's waywardness if one's family lacks access to resources.
posted by
writersjourney
on November 2, 2005 at 9:18 PM
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