The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

The cult of Martin Luther King Jr.

Fox News reports on an acrimonious fight in Zephyrhills, Florida over the changing of a street name from Sixth Avenue to Martin Luther King Avenue. Residents of Sixth Avenue didn't want their street name changed, so of course out comes the racism card. Name change proponent Irene Dobson proclaimed opposition to the name change racist:

"They say it's not, but I wasn't born yesterday," Dobson said.

You can't question anything about MLK. Not his academic work, not his alleged marital infidelity, not his political views which bordered on socialism. We can dig up unfounded allegations about all sorts of historical figures, like Thomas Jefferson, but MLK is OFF LIMITS. Of all the icons of political correctness, he stands first and foremost as untouchable.

Do we really need to name every street in America after MLK? I mean come on, he was an important historical figure but I don't see him as more important than Reagan or FDR or any number of other Americans. I expect that we will get a push to add him to a coin sooner or later even though he wasn't a President. It is time for the civil rights movement to stop living in the past. Rather than spending time and energy fighting about naming streets after a guy dead for 30 years, why not focus on creating jobs and stopping young black men from killing each other? King's dream wasn't to keep reliving the past over and over but to work towards creating a brighter future. I hate to presume to speak for King, or anyone else, but I can't believe that he would approve of this waste of energy. Of course he also likely wouldn't approve of his self-designated successor Jesse Jackson extorting money to keep himself rich with no benefits for black Americans, only resentment.

I especially question this part. Wasn't King all about non-violent resistance? Would he have approved of overt threats because a street was not renamed in his honor, based on one protestor's sign proclaiming: "No Justice. No Peace in Zephyrhills" In other words, change some stupid street name or we might just riot ala Los Angeles and Cincinnati, destroying our own neighborhoods. Boy that will show 'em!