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Balkanization of America Dishonors King's Dream
By Doug Patton
January 21, 2002

As I finished rereading Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, it occurred to me that the hucksters who pass themselves off as today's civil rights leaders would do well to go back and study those 1,550 words, spoken in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963.

This week, as we do every year, America honored and celebrated the life of the man who, in this, his most famous speech, told us he dreamed of a day when America would judge people not by the color of their skin but rather by the content of their character.

Some of today's black leaders are a disgrace to King's memory. Jesse Jackson, probably the best known of the bunch, made his name by embellishing his role as a King protÈgÈ. Since then, Jackson has shown himself to be nothing but a low-life shakedown artist. He sets an example for young black males by fathering a child out of wedlock and paying off the mother with funds given to his tax-exempt organization, then threatens corporations with boycotts and charges of racism if they don't help him replenish his funds.

Then there is Al Sharpton, who has somehow managed to parlay the phony rape of Tawana Brawley in the 1980's into a race for the presidency in 2004. Just how did that happen? (Interestingly, when doing research on Sharpton for this column, I entered his name into one of my Internet search engines and was led to a web site called "pimpdaddy.com.")

Newly elected New York City councilman Charles Barron is demanding that portraits of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson be removed from city hall and replaced with portraits of Malcolm X. A former Black Panther, Barron has gone so far as to call Jefferson a pedophile, an accusation based on the now-disputed relationship our third president supposedly had with an underage Sally Hemmings.

Rep. Maxine Waters of California, whose brand of radical, racist socialism is typical of many of the black Democrats in Congress, showed her true colors when she coined the phrase "No justice, no peace" as violence exploded in her district of South Central Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict was announced. The sad fact is that, like Waters, most black members of congress continue to support failed policies and morally bankrupt politicians (Bill Clinton leaps to mind).

It is hard to imagine Dr. King aligning himself with any of these charlatans. While he believed in the melting pot, they push for a balkanized America. While he believed in an integrated, color-blind society, they insist on separatism. And while he preached liberty, justice and opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed or national origin, they complain of victimization with government as the only solution.

I think Martin Luther King would be appalled that today seventy percent of black children are born out of wedlock. Former ambassador and presidential candidate Alan Keyes has pointed out that there were more black children born into marriage-based, two-parent households during the darkest days of slavery in this country than there are today. I think Dr. King would be saddened beyond belief at that statistic and at what has become of his dream.

Dr. King believed in integration. He fought against segregation all his life. What would he say about racial quotas, Ebonics and a Black Pledge of Allegiance?

If Martin Luther King, Jr., were alive today, I believe he would disassociate himself from the entire so-called civil rights movement. I think he would take one look at this current crop of whiners and opportunists and find the content of their character wanting.