"Now, here’s the thing. Martin Luther King Jr. can now be used to promote anything. And in the process, I think if these people on the left are not careful, they’re gonna end up diminishing this man. They’re gonna commercialize this man and this speech, and they’re gonna turn him and what he stood for into a commodity. I mean, they’re dangerously close to commoditizing this now."
And the reason I bring El Rushbo's comments up is if you heard or saw any of the MLK 50th anniversary celebration coverage yesterday, you would have undoubtedly made a couple of observations.
One, as Rush iterated, there seemed to be, dare I say, an extreme amount of commodifying of Martin Luther King, Jr. From Obama's mention of MLK supporting Obamacare yesterday morning to the ridiculous Trayvon Martin Luther King t-shirt vendor to former Presidents Carter and Clinton joining Obama in pushing a host of leftist agenda driven items, including Voter ID laws of which all three criticized.
But two, there only seemed to be one mindset invited to commodify MLK's legacy.
Many conservatives, libertarians and Republicans were distinctly absent. Some were invited just days before the event, while others were not invited at all. Wonder why? (/sarcasm)TheHill: [Black conservatives] contend the left is appropriating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s memory and willfully understating the degree of progress the United States has made in overcoming the egregious racial injustices that characterized an earlier era.
They also argue Americans aren’t hearing the right message from leaders — mainly Democratic and liberal — who will celebrate the anniversary from the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday.
Mia Love, the Republican mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, is black and was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. She contends that modern-day civil rights activists, in league with the Democratic Party, de-incentivize personal responsibility and economic independence.
“I believe Dr. King would be saddened by the way that some of these leaders are telling Americans that they are victims and their only hope for a better future is a government handout,” she said. “It does nothing but keep black Americans dependent.”
Herman Cain, who sought the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, told The Hill that if King were alive today, “he would say congratulations on the progress that you have made as a nation and that black people have made in the last 50 years.”
“But he would also say shame on you as a nation for where you have lost ground,” said Cain, who pointed to rising racial tensions and several downward trend lines.
“We have lost ground, especially black people, on the number of people graduating from high school. We have lost ground, black people, on babies born out of wedlock. We have lost ground, a bit, on racial tension: I don’t think it is as bad as the 50s and 60s but the flames have been fanned by some of the things in the media,” he said.
However, one could make the argument that even Democrats are fed up, as the crowd estimate only topped 20,000, compared to the expected 100,000.WashingtonExaminer: Sen. Tim Scott, R.-S.C., the only African American serving in the United States Senate, wasn't invited to the event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's march on Washington, though a host of Democratic luminaries spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
“Senator Scott was not invited to speak at the event,” Greg Blair, a spokesman for the South Carolina lawmaker, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “The senator believes today is a day to remember the extraordinary accomplishments and sacrifices of Dr. King, Congressman John Lewis, and an entire generation of black leaders. Today’s anniversary should simply serve as an opportunity to reflect upon how their actions moved our country forward in a remarkable way.”
The event organizers didn't completely exclude Republicans from the event — former President George W. Bush, for instance, received an invitation, but he couldn't attend as he is recovering from surgery — but the slate of speakers was filled with names such as former President Clinton, Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md., Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Foxx and others.
President Obama was the keynote speaker of the event, of course, which is held in honor of the achievements of Dr. King and other civil rights leaders. Wouldn't it have made sense to have the first black president joined by the first black senator from South Carolina, which was a Jim Crow state when the original march on Washington took place?
The Washington Examiner contacted MLK Dream 50 to ask why Scott wasn’t invited, but didn’t hear back in time for publication.
Folks, Big Government has become the new plantation. And certainly not to place the blame on one party alone, but who's been running this behemoth in overdrive for the past 5-7 years?
You know, the Democrats obviously used this occasion to seize control of King's legacy for their own narrative, but as Walter E. Williams argued, the problems in black America today have nothing to do with civil rights. Regarding the civil rights movement, Williams says the struggle "is over and it is won."
"At one time, black Americans did not have the constitutional guarantees of everybody else, now we do. Now, the fact that the civil rights struggle is over and won does not mean that there are not major problems that black Americans face, but they're not civil rights problems. And if we view them as civil rights problems, the solutions will be illusive forever."Williams lists examples, such as the 'devastating' illegitimacy rates among blacks, the 'grossly fraudulent' education received by the average black student, or black-on-black crime that makes up over 50% of the homicide rate in this country, acknowledging that while these are serious problems within the black community, they're not civil rights problems. These are socio-economic problems. The Left has twisted MLK's civil rights message into one of so-called economic equality. Williams says one has nothing to do with the other, but for those who view civil rights as economic equality, "we ought to look at all the government rules and regulations that are supported by black congressmen, labor unions, civil rights leaders, that handicap people moving up the economic ladder."
But beyond yet another redefining (something which the Left has been far too successful among a plethora of once settled subjects and finite institutions) and unlike the modern Democratic message of the Nanny State, Martin Luther King, Jr. taught the true equality of success, fulfillment and completion of all things in life. Even if you're merely a street sweeper.
Related links: A Minority View"What I’m saying to you this morning, my friends, even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; (Go ahead) sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”
If you can’t be a pine on the top of a hill
Be a scrub in the valley—but be
The best little scrub on the side of the hill,
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.
If you can’t be a highway just be a trail
If you can’t be the sun be a star;
It isn’t by size that you win or fail—
Be the best of whatever you are.
And when you do this, when you do this, you’ve mastered the length of life."
Obama: Criticism Leveled At Me "Doesn't Have To Do With My Race In Particular"
CNN Guest: Tim Scott was ‘appointed’, not elected…so why should he speak at MLK Anniversary?
MLK III Disgraces his Father
