Clinton's remarks insult Dr. King's legacy

As the Martin Luther King holiday approaches, now is the time to bring to mind Dr. King's commitment to equality, justice, and social change. Many of you may have heard Hillary Clinton's remarks last Monday that referred to King's role in the Civil Rights Movement:

“I would point to the fact that that Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get through Congress something that President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the president before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it done,” she said. “That dream became a reality, the power of that dream became real in people’s lives because we had a president who said we are going to do it and actually got it accomplished.”



I find this sweeping comment gravely insulting. To say that "Dr King's dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act" completley overlooks the initiative Dr. King took to lead a movement so that the act could be passed in the first place. To say that it "took a president to get it done" minimizes the monumental role that King played in the Civil Rights movement and disregards the power that lies with the PEOPLE to push for social change.

The New York Times has an article today that goes into detail about the ramifications of her comment since last Monday. Note in this article that the primary figure in Hillary's defense is the founder of Black Entertainment Television, which I find to be more than a little bit ironic. Furthermore, he made a cheap shot at Obama's history of drug use (which Obama candidly wrote about in his first book in 1995) and then later passes his comment off as a reference to Obama's "community organizing." (You can read further details in the above article.)

The legacy of Dr. King should be regarded with much more respect than this. While Clinton was clearly trying to promote her own agenda and suggest that she as a president will make change in our country, she certainly made a huge mistake with this comment. Now the question is whether it will cost her votes in South Carolina.

ALSO: Stay tuned for tomorrow's LUCAP meeting, the theme of which will be the radical side of Martin Luther King.