opinion
Parades and events commemorating the historic civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. have been canceled this weekend due to widespread winter weather. Cold temperatures and accumulating snow did not prevent senior political and business leaders from offering the usual expressions of awe towards the late great orator.
We all seem to share the same dream around the same time of year, one in which non-white historical figures are deified, and any criticisms or attempts to accurately evaluate the character of men who have been turned into gods by other men is an exercise in racism. . However, it has become commonplace to apply today's morals to white historical figures.
White historical figures are being rewritten in history books focusing on their flaws, their monuments are torn down from city squares, and holidays are renamed in their honor in an attempt to erase them from our history. However, some believe that the same standard imposed on our former white historical heroes should be applied to all of our historical heroes.
The argument
The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh took to X this weekend to discuss the uneven historical lens through which Americans evaluate MLK Jr. versus white historical figures.
He explains:
Our historical heroes have been demolished. We are told to focus on their sins and shortcomings. Columbus was labeled a genocidal killer. Jefferson was nothing but a slave owner, etc.
He goes on to explain what it would be like if the same were applied to a character like MLK Jr.:
“Well, if that's the norm, then we should be talking about the fact that Martin Luther King was a communist, a plagiarist, an adulterer, an abuser, an alleged rapist, and more.”
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Part of what Mr. Walsh alluded to were revelations made by biographer David Garrow in 2019. Surveillance of the civil rights leader revealed a side of the man most people prefer, Mr. Garrow wrote after combing through then-newly released FBI documents. She ignores.
Mr. Jarrow wrote:
“It reveals in minute detail the FBI's intense focus on King's extensive extramarital sexual relations with dozens of women, as well as his presence in a Washington hotel room when a friend, a Baptist minister, raped one of his 'parishioners' while King looked, laughed and submitted Advice.
This information may be completely new to many of you because the mainstream media has chosen not to focus on this news. While tearing down historical giants has become its own educational system, doing so with a non-white giant is a sin in itself.
Criticized equally
Matt Walsh wrote on X that the uptick in criticism of MLK Jr. It is a product of what the progressive left started. he wrote:
“I know many of you want to play by a rule that every white historical figure must be reevaluated while every non-white historical figure remains canonized.”
Unfortunately for liberals, a Pandora's box has been opened. That is why, as Mr. Walsh writes, there is always something that should be:
“One standard and one standard only.”
This concept shouldn't be new, and the irony of a man who saw the need for equal treatment among all men is laughable. Back in 2019, after it was revealed that MLK Jr. He wasn't just a flawed man – such as that everyone men – but were likely to engage in wrongful, illegal and egregious behaviour, Mr Walsh wrote that society should:
“Instead of sanctifying our heroes on the one hand, or demonizing them on the other hand, we can humanize them.”
Christopher Columbus was no saint, Thomas Jefferson suffered from the same temptations to sin as the next man, and Martin Luther King, Jr. was also a flawed man. These are multidimensional men who were sinners to varying degrees and not immune to the social and cultural tendencies of their time.
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History is important
It's not just conservative commentators who would prefer Americans realize that MLK Jr. There was more to him than his “I Have a Dream” speech. Professor Cornel West at Princeton University has lamented the “Santa labeling” of MLK Jr, claiming that forgetting that he was an outspoken anti-war activist and highly political in his speeches takes away from his identity for the civil rights movement and the country.
Liberal commentator Mehdi Hassan urged Americans to:
“…Let us remember Dr. King as the leftist, socialist, and outspoken anti-war activist that he truly was…”
What a great idea. Unfortunately, Mr. West and Mr. Hassan do not want Americans to also remember Dr. King as the adulterer that he was.
Do I think monuments to MLK Jr. should be removed, streets and schools renamed, or that young Americans should focus on the man's sins in relation to his contributions to American society? of course not.
It would be beneficial for Americans to stop turning historical figures into gods and demons, and keep them as members of humanity. To do so is to truly appreciate the greatness they have achieved and acknowledge the ongoing struggle against the temptations of sin that afflicts all of God's creatures.
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