AAAAAAAAGH
This is reprinted without permission from the local rag's Letters to the Editor section. Let me repeat that, in a different way: the newspaper actually printed this, as their top letter to the editor, today. I'll take it down or hide it or whatever, later, but I thought it might be helpful, for those of you unfamiliar with my little area of the world, to understand some of my feelings towards it.
The letter is as follows:
King encouraged racial violence
The only thing good about celebrating Martin Luther King's birthday is that it's a holiday for schools and some businesses. He was not a gentle man. Everywhere he preached, a riot followed. He caused a lot of people to get physically hurt and a lot of property damage was done also.
No, there should not have been bondage or segregation. We are all God's children.
But I know what happened. I used to live in Kentucky. We could not even let our children outdoors while he was there. Cars would go through neighborhoods and people in them would throw rocks and bricks at houses and break windows. If any whites would be outside, they would hit them also.
So please, don't glorify this man. He was not a saint.
[Witholding Lady Fuck's Name]
[The bigger town just north of here]
AAAAAAAAAAGH.
Right. Of course. Because the foremost American activist for peaceful protest and passive resistance should be held personally accountable for violent acts committed by others.
Now, I'm making my own assumptions, here, but, given the demographics of the valley, the content of the letter, and the woman's name, she is 9 chances out of 10 a Caucasian Evangelical Protestant Christian, and I'm sure she'd love to hear about how, for an example, Jesus should be blamed for the many lynchings committed by his devout followers, in our modern era. And how the Prince of Peace wasn't "gentle," because, feeling they were following his example, some people have decided that "turn the other cheek" means "bomb someone."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH.
...I want to go back to Long Beach. :(
2 comments:
Lauro-boro-orowen!
Come ON, Lauren, SURELY you don't believe EVERYTHING you learned in school. If you still think King was a peaceful man, then you probably won't believe me when I tell you about Gandhi's secret life as a pyromaniac, Cesar Chavez' secret sweatshops, or Princess Di's penchant for using orphans for target practice.
You *really* ought to keep a more open mind!
Helena, I love you so much.
I know, what was I thinking?
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