Tuesday, August 31, 2004

MLK for the USA

Today was the last day for accepting nominations for Chapel Hill's new committee to study the issue of changing the name of Airport Road to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. I'm hoping for the best. Our mayor has set the committee up so that we can have a "conversation about race." That will be a welcome conversation. But King wasn't just about civil rights for African Americans.

People have said that to change the name of a road now, as opposed to 30 years ago, is a token, trivial thing. It doesn't have to be. It seems to me that King is as relevant today as he ever was, or more so.

I'm not the only one who would like to channel Martin Luther King.

Gonsalves: But aren't we Americans the good guys and "they" the "evil ones," to quote President Bush?

King: "We must all learn to live together as brothers, or we will perish together as fools."

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