MLK Was Right In 1967 and He’s Still Right Today

Ever since Wednesday January 6th, when extremists broke into the Capitol Building, I have been searching for the words to express how I feel.

The break-in was a crime. It was wrong and all involved need to be found, arrested and prosecuted.  About that there is no question.  But that seemed incomplete in the big picture.  There was more that needed to be said.

Then I found an article from a Time magazine on line dated April 28, 2015 referencing Dr. Martin Luther King's "The Other America" speech at Stanford University.  Dr. King was referencing race riots of the time and he said this, "I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard."

All last summer we heard the last part of that quote --riots are the language of the unheard-- as the left, news media and Hollywood attempted to justify the riots in Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Kenosha and elsewhere.

There was anger, there was injustice, so to some there was justification and cover for vandalism, theft, arson and worse.  The left supported the BLM/Antifa riots to the point of bailing them out as fast as they were arrested. Politician after celebrity after media personnel all made excuses for destructive criminal behavior on a gigantic billion dollar scale.

What we haven't heard -or at least i haven't- heard is the first part of the quote. That's the part that promotes understanding of action without condoning the action.  Dr. King said, " America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots."

So what is it that needs to be condemned today in order to prevent the riots of tomorrow? What isn't being heard?

In Dr. King's time it was failure, "to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay."

It's not so clear cut today but it's there and it's been brewing for some time.. The initialed Federal Agencies, (FBI, NSA, IRS etc) call them the "deep state", being weaponized against Americans. The national mainstream media in a never ending attack on the President... the lies and misrepresentations by the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees in a 3 year collusion wild goose chase...an unjustified and failed Impeachment.  I could go on and on.  Add to that the disappointment and anger at "never Trumpers" within the Republican party itself...and every last green scaly "my-party-politics-first" creatures looking to hold onto 75 years of swamp behavior.

As I say, this has been brewing for a while.  The anger was there with the disrespect for the TEA Party, with comments like "bitter clingers", "deplorables" and "smelly Walmart Shoppers".  After all the elitist arrogance, insults and dismissive behavior as the Obama administration tried to "fundamentally change America", the anger had reached a point that outsider Donald Trump actually got elected.

Then came the vindication for voting as Trump as America took off on an amazing economic run of prosperity, wages, jobs, energy independence...again I could go on and on.  And all the while America was "winning", Trump haters were trying to stop him and tear him down.  And yet, virtually every political pundit believed Trump would have won re-election easily if not for the appearance of the Coronavirus.

ALL of that is what needs to be condemned as vigorously as the riot itself.  But that's not happening.  In fact the woke worlds of business, entertainment and technology are joining the left in doubling down in blaming Trump for sewing the seeds of dissent for the riot that we actually planted, watered and grew during eight years of the Obama Administration.

Again, the riot was wrong... However the Impeachment of the President and his being banned from Twitter and Facebook and the pursuit of punishment for all Trump supporters have the potential to make things even worse.  Members of the extreme right were, for the most part, the individuals in action on Wednesday but tens of millions more mainstream Trump supporters are watching to see what happens next.

Does anyone see any chance of unity on the horizon?  The air is getting thick and as Dr. King said, "America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air."

Chuck Schumer and pack should take a lesson from history - "with malice toward none; with charity for all". -- Abraham Lincoln.