Today is a holiday. It is supposed to be a day that pays tribute to a “real” American and International hero. Not some temporary White House wannabe who needs the adoration and obsession of a few million to survive, but a person who self-sacrificed to achieve justice and equality.
We are inundated every day, every hour, every minute by these self-serving politicians who dream of being the most powerful person in the world. Dr. Martin Luther King only dreamed of us, the people without such lofty self-interest motivations to seek power over the populace.
Considering we have anointed the wreck list with non-stop squabbles between the Sanders supporters and Clinton supporters (poor Martin O’Malley, we hardly knew ye), why can’t we have 1 full day out of 365 devoted to discourse about a man who embodies our world view of peace, justice and equality instead of rambling on and on ad-nauseum over 2 people who we never seem to have enough to say about. It is not like we will lose any time to discuss who should win the democratic nomination and who should go to hell. I think from the second Bernie and Hillary announced their candidacies, we know almost every possible pro and con, including what time their campaign turns their lights off to go to bed.
Another reason we should take a day off from the race is because I think we all need a day to decompress, especially the day after the candidates got medieval on each other in the debate. Instead of us debating who won, who is the asshole of the party, etc., why don’t we just this once put away all the petty differences between political claptrap opinions and instead focus on a man who deserves today’s spotlight. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As someone who followed Dr. King, I think those young people (and older too) should put away the zeal and animosity of the other side as Dr. King would urge us, and learn about co-existence rather than political nuances and arguments. With the highest rate of incarceration in the world, a police system that shoots first and doesn’t want to ask questions when confronting African American youths, a war between religions fought to the most extreme, I don’t think politics will mind the day off to honor someone who was never about political office. It is the least we can do. Reading the wreck list today reminded how far even progressives have moved away from the man’s vision as we continue to fall prey to exactly what MLK preached against, political hatred and division.
