Update--this *just* made it onto the recommended diaries list as of 11:35(ish) p.m. Eastern. Thank you! I hope we can keep it there.
Yes, actually I
did actually write a diary with a similar title a couple days ago:
Martin Luther King, Jr. and progressive moral values. But now there is an article by John Nichols in Common Dreams, entitled
MLK's Moral Values. And, given what Nichols says about the timing of national holiday in honor of King in relation to the upcoming inauguration, maybe this is a good time for us to
keep talking about King's moral values...
The anniversary of the birth of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. falls just five days before the second inauguration of a president who has broken faith with most of the civil rights leader's legacy -- at home and abroad.
But, while today's leaders are out of touch with King's legacy, Americans who still hold out hope that their country might truly embrace a higher and better morality than that of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice must keep in touch.
You can read the rest of the article here
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0116-07.htm
King explained that robbing the nation's treasury to fund military misadventures abroad did not fit into any definition he knew of "moral values." Indeed, he suggested, morality called Americans to oppose presidents who embarked upon careers of empire -- for the sake not just of victimized nations on the other side of the planet, but for the sake of America.
"A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: 'This way of settling differences is not just.' This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."
We honor King best by following his teachings. And, while he taught us much about how to live with one another, he taught us even more about how to live in peace with the rest of the world. It is that lesson that we must carry into what the Bush administration and the pliant press will portray as a festive week of celebration.
For those who are not celebrating with the Bushes and Cheneys, however, it is important to remember that King would not have settled for the excuse of "necessity" that the president will peddle. America, King told the crowd at Riverside Church on that April evening, could change.
"America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values," the Nobel Peace Prize winner explained. "There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood."
Here are other MLK diaries that have been posted over the weekend:
In Honor of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. by PoliSigh
Happy Birthday MLK, Jr. by trill
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! by grannyhelen
Denial and complacency have dulled us to the lesson of MLK by tanqexe
Time for MLK to be dangerous again by jre
Kids turned on by MLK's message by BMarshall
A Little Inspiration on Dr. King's Birthday by storwino
Illegal to Show Landmark MLK Civil Rights Documentary by firedoglake
In Memoriam of Martin Luther King, Jr by slinkerwink
O'Reilly's Spin on King in the No Spin Zone by grannyhelen
Rep. John Conyers and the legacy of MLK by Renee in Ohio
MLK day reading list by hono lulu
If I missed one, please let me know.