Martin Luther King and Economic Justice

Everyone it seems has an opinion on the Glenn Beck rally at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, staged unintentionally on the 47th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's famed 'I have a dream' speech. The event drew a crowd of apparently near the 300,000 it had asked for on its permit to gather, while also facing a counter demonstration of sorts from the Al Sharpton camp. Sharpton said he was merely honoring Dr. King's legacy and not opposing Beck as such.

Be that as it may, the most telling remarks of the day came from Dr. King's son, Martin Luther King III. He insists that his father, in the last years of his life, fought for economic justice more than for civil rights. That such an ideal has become the cornerstone of the civil rights movement, if we are willing to take King III's words for granted, places Sharpton's group squarely in the leftist/socialist camp. Especially as Sharpton himself said later in the day that "The structural breakdown of a strong national government, which is what they're (Beck's group) calling for, is something that does not serve the interests of the nation and it's something that Dr. King and others fought against," we see that true civil rights are not what the leaders of today's 'civil rights' movement are after. They in fact seek to be fed at the trough of government favor and power.

Such does not, in the long run, preserve anyone's rights, civil or economic. It places one right at the heel of omnipotence, where no one's free will choices shall mean anything. It must raise the question of who really speaks for the legacy of Dr. King. For if he truly wanted the government as lord and master of rights, then we need to rethink his contributions to society. But if he really wanted a world where a person is judged not 'by the color of their skin but the content of their character', then a national government which is too strong would be insulting to him.

It is interesting to note that Dr. King's niece, speaking at the Beck rally, opined that her Uncle spoke for 'faith, hope, love...and a trust in God', rather than for big government. It leaves us to wonder who may actually be hijacking the memory and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King: the conservatives, or those who claim him as their own.