All Comments (4)

Faint stirrings barely worthwhile to memorialize the worst event for race relations in the US in this century.

brian mcc, the arctic:

You make an interesting point, religion CAN be a force for good. I recall seeing nuns marching and some Jews too. I don't recall seeing any and for sure not many from, "the moral majority." The tripplek is not dead, just changed name. It is in their churches where new members are recruited with, "when are we going to get our rights?"

A black professor hit the nail on the head in my opinion when she said, (I must paraphrase) Dr King has become like Santa Claus and rolled out once a year where in reality he is a significant player in American history. With that I agree and think he belongs at the level of John Adams who is no doubt the real father of American democracy. Maybe we should have John Adams day?

Religion in the general case is a historical, "come lately" to take credit not due. By so doing religion serves the negative purpose of keeping the wound open thus avoiding the cure. Black athletes, business folk and statesmen, (Powell) many other areas and now Obama have put the myths of racial superiority to bed. Religion and especially those that were not there at the time won't let it sleep. The Reverend X's making inflammatory remarks on the public record and showing up at every disaster as though limited to black folks are not helping.

Once victory is won all that can happen by continuing the war is to lose. The law is in place and enforced. Attempts to force people like each other, forget love each other are futile. It's unconstitutional anyhow.

The whole mess clears right up once one understands that the being religions call God is really the biggest Devil of them all, Lucifer. It's not God or lack of faith in God but faith in Devil and His holy books, Bible, Quar'an, Book of Mormon etc that causes people to make slaves of each other -not limited to whites enslaving blacks.

Many slave owners were athiest, and some believed in a God. The slaves themselves, prayed to a different God from their masters, and some doubted as to how any human being could claim 'my skin is lighter than yours, my churches are bigger, therefore I own you...'

I too remember the JFK assasination vividly. When Martin was shot, I was in school. Catholic.

Classes were halted as we were in the silence of church. The nuns led all 8 grades in prayer.

I was in the 7th grade.

I remember today and I remember JFK's assassination too. I can still see everything in sight, where I was, all that was there and the other people at the time JFK's was assassinated but not MLK, can't recall where I was when I heard of his assassination. I think that has something to do with their relative importance in my life. One was my president while the other was just one of a multitude of great men.

By 1968 the law was in place to force integration and it was being enforced. Law enforcement was 'feeling' it's way along, sizing thing up and deciding how to go about that, in Boston, Chicago, Detroit as well as Birmingham.

The continued civil rights push was counterproductive in the eyes of many, NAACP demonstrating a sore winner attitude. That would be particularly true in the surroundings of the assassination itself arguable as interfering in a labor dispute. Yes, there are no perfect people or perfect causes either one. Because the laborers were black they deserved help which leads to charges of discrimination against white laborers, a bad thing for the movement.

Religion's role in the civil rights movement is obvious. Only atheists ever owned slaves, fought on the southern side during the civil war or were/are segregationists. Without the help of white southern Christians with their ministers marching for freedom black folks would still be banned in Boston. Get it?