The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

OUR VIEW

Posted: Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:44 PM

OUR VIEW: On 50th Anniversary Of Dr. Martin Luther King's Death, America Still Divided Racially But Healing Is Possible

His three remaining children still cling today to the few memories they have left of him. They once had to publicly mourn a man who was among the most hated in America at the time of his death, but a man who stood out from among all the rest of those seeking to fight for civil rights of blacks.

King has now become the most beloved figures in the world through the years, but has also become a tragic figure in many ways as so many race baiters have tried to lay claim to his legacy.

On the 50th anniversary of an earmark day in our nation its sad that every ounce of Rev. King's memory is laced with racially charged comments from leaders who have betrayed this great man's legacy in dragging their own agendas through the hearts of America and into the mud of politics.

Former President Obama seemed to absurdly believe Dr. King, were he alive today, would be embracing Obama's socialist vision for America including the now defunct Obamacare. Dr. King would have never embraced a system that sets up minorities to sink deeper into poverty and cripple an already crippled economy.

Then there are Jesse Jackson (I'm going to leave the "Rev" title off on purpose) and Al Sharpton (I'll leave the "Rev" title off of his name too) who claim everything wrong with Black America is the fault of white people and conservatives. Oh yes, they blame blacks too who do not march to their racist drum beat that again betrays a great man's legacy.

The fact is that no matter what excuse any body uses - no matter the color of their skin -  to justify their own failed behavior misses the fundamental lesson of life. We are all accountable for our own lives and we must take that responsibility without blaming anyone for the state they find themselves in.

These seeds of discord are going to bring a bitter harvest to our nation of future generations if they continue to be planted by so called leaders of the black community. They are no better than the Jihadists teaching young Arab children to hate Israel in their schools based upon some of the stupid and demonic rhetoric I hear coming out of the mouths of some of these bastions of hate, not leadership. True leaders raise people up to a standard of greatness and take responsibility for their actions and failures. False leaders blame everyone else for their failures. (Coughing: Are you listening Hillary?)

We are all in this world together - red and yellow, black and white - and we must learn to live together in love and peace.

That is basically what Dr. King loudly proclaimed in 1963 when he said courageously, "hate won't cast out hate only love can cast out hate! " That memo of Dr. King's sadly has never gotten to the modern crop of race mongers of whom I know Dr. King would be ashamed to be associated with today.
 

Sadly even Dr. King's children, including Martin Luther King III have in the past sought to tie the high unemployment rate among Black Americans (12.6% during the Obama years) to discrimination in the work place while ignoring the overall economic state of affairs in D.C. which has led to this figure over the past 5 years:
 

In a speech a few years ago during a march on Washington to commemorate his father's speeches, the younger King proclaimed, "The theme for the 1963 March on Washington, “For Jobs and Freedom,” resonates a half-century later: Unacceptably high rates of joblessness are pervasive. July unemployment figures indicate that the jobless rate for African Americans is 12.6 percent, compared with 6.6 percent for white workers and 9.4 percent for Latino Americans. Discrimination in employment remains a relevant concern."

Well we have a new President now Mr. King. Those figures are coming down to record levels. I'm sure you're going to give President Trump credit for that right? Or will you still scream racial inequality in the workplace and thumb your nose at that because our President is white now.
 

The higher unemployment rate among blacks is not because of discrimination in employment.

I'd advise Mr. King and others like him to take a look in the mirror of their own communities and before they paint a broad accusation of discrimination, ask themselves how much of that 12.6 percentile would truly work if given the opportunity. How much of that 12.6% would be skilled enough to work? Are you really saying that businesses are not hiring black Americans because of the color of their skin and not because they are either not qualified for the job they are applying for or they simply don't want to do the work that the available jobs need?

How many of his 12.6% have stopped looking for work because things have gotten so bad, government assistance is easier to live on than an $8.00 an hour wage in a part time job?

Then there is the crime issue. Black leaders in this modern time completely ignore the reality that black on black crime is killing more African American youth than white on black crime. Yet they scream police and law enforcement are always racially unjust to blacks in enforcing the law.

My question is when there is black on white crime, is this not too racial injustice?

 Ask the Australian baseball player Chris Lane who was slain by two black teens and one white years back in Oklahoma about racial injustice. His killers said they were "bored" and one of the black teens tweeted "I hate white people" a few days before the murder.

Ask Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom of Knoxville, TN. where this paper originates from about racial injustice who were brutalized by 5 blacks, 4 males and one female in 2007 after a car jacking and killed in a manner that had every markings of racial injustice yet the local and national medias ignored their story except for a few exceptions.

Geraldo Rivera picked up on it weeks after it happened and he himself felt the crimes should have been prosecuted as hate crimes. Because of fear of the black community they were not.

Ask scores of other whites and Hispanics who have been murdered by blacks for racial reasons but yet because one 17 year old black teen, who was questionably doing just as much harm to his attacker and got shot in the process is killed, he somehow has become the poster child for all wrongs against black teens?

When crime is committed its not about the color of one's skin that is the problem, it's the problem of the color of one's heart.

To the left it's always the color of the gun. I'm positive Dr. King, if alive today, would shake his head at such stupidity and say no it's not! As a minister of the gospel, Dr. King would probably look at these race-baiting, 2nd-Amendment hating losers and simply say "Cain Killed Abel with a stone."

The problem with crime in the African American communities as well as all communities across America is not the guns; the problem is the heart of men and those hearts are evil and despicably wicked in nature.

Yes there has been bigotry and racism in the past against blacks. There is no need to hide that or gloss over it. It's certain that the late Dr. King and others paid a high price to bring the African American community to where it is today. And yes racism still exists today in the hearts of some, but not all, in the white community.

But let's be clear and without hesitation declare that racism exists in the black community as well towards whites.

When the race peddlers spew their venom and declare the enemies of the black community are big business, evil white people, any conservative who preaches personal responsibility and any one who seeks real solutions to real problems no one wins and Dr. King's legacy is drug through the mud of senseless ideology.

One of the most memorable quotes after the O.J. Simpson trial of 1994 was by Robert Shapiro, who told reporters after the dust settled that the O.J. defense team's efforts to label Mark Furman as a racist cop seeking to plant evidence, was the lowest form of playing race in order to win an acquittal. As Shapiro said "we played the race card from the bottom of the deck" and we won the case.

In doing so that defense team perverted justice for Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson and placed enough doubt in a jury's mind to acquit a killer.

To listen to the words of black leaders, Democrats, the left and the dishonest corrupt media, the same race card is still being played again off the bottom of the deck of race baiting and mongering and it's still an ugly sight to behold.

Fifty years ago a great man, albeit not perfect himself, was killed. What Dr. King was however was a true leader and humble servant of Christ who sought to bring change to the world of discrimination not by blaming whites, but by making us all take a look within ourselves to see the condition of our souls, not the color of our skin.

Nothing in today's rhetoric or political hack grandstanding has done anything to inspire that type change anyone. It has only served to smear the legacy of the nation's greatest civil rights leader we've ever known and divide us more.

We honor Dr. King's memory today 50 years after his death.

Our hope is simply we come to our senses and realize that the problems facing society today are not because someone is black or white. Our problems stem from the fact men's hearts are evil which breeds wicked people who do evil wicked things - both black and white.

In closing let me make this one quick observation. The theme of personal responsibility was part of Dr. King's clarion call to the both black and white communities across America in 1963 when he proclaimed, "I Have A Dream!"

In 2018, we need to sound that clarion call again. It's time we take a look at ourselves closely and remove the beam out of our own eyes before we try to take the speck out of the eyes of others.

It's exactly what Dr. King would want to hear coming from the mouths of his modern followers and disciples and not a grievance list a mile long that only incites more failure, more hatred, more division and more racism. These are all  the things he stood up courageously to fight against in his historic legacy that sadly ended too short on a balcony in Memphis, Tn.

On this 50th anniversary of his death, may the Lord grant this nation healing in a way that we don't continue to trash this man's legacy that he paid for with his life. We can heal if we will allow the God of heaven to take control again of our nation!
 

Christopher McDonald, Publisher, Editor in Charge

Great Smoky Mountain Journal