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To the Editor,
A brief reflection on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in the modern era…
Over the last few years, I've read articles and seen in-person interviews with young black people, often attending demonstrations on high school and college campuses, enthusiastically demanding blacks-only classes, clubs and "safe-spaces"…where they of course would only have to associate and interact with others like themselves.
I recently read an interview with a black athlete, who proposed the idea of having separate leagues for "Caucasian" and black athletics. Supposedly, according to the article, other black athletes quietly support this notion, as well.
I read an interview with a younger black actor who says he "doesn't enjoy" working with whites, and tries to take only roles in movies with a black-majority cast. I could go on, providing more examples.
These ideas were obviously not Dr. King's "dream." Quite the opposite, of course.
Many of these younger blacks, it seems, claim to idolize King, and likely attended memorials, speeches, and roundtable discussions on his ideas…and yet, by holding these opinions and making these demands, they openly disdain virtually everything he stood for.
King wanted a world where people respect each other for their person; their character; their merits and abilities, looking past skin color, and working together for a better future.
That is not what these people support. Utterly missing the bitter irony of their ideas, what they support is a return to literal institutionalized racism, and segregation. They support a return to the "Jim Crow" era…just on their own terms. I guess that's different, though? By so doing, naturally, they'd be giving the real "white racists" exactly their fondest wish.
All things considered, by holding these views, they mock the very reason behind this holiday, and disregard the sacrifices of King, and of their grandparents and great-grandparents. You know; the people who actually lived through the frustrations and humiliations of that era, and worked hard, often suffering injury and loss of life, to change it. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a white guy from West Virginia. In calling this out, I'm probably being "racist." Somehow.
Rob Denham
Weirton