All six of the panelists should have been African Americans. Only one was. This was a day to honor one of the great men in American history, not diversity. The whole atmosphere was wrong, in my opinion, from the tenor of the program to the lack of energy in the room. It was very unlike the Rev. Martin Luther King who was supposed to be the honoree.
But Culver City gave away his legacy yesterday. They watered down the beliefs of Martin Luther King so drastically that, at this pace, in 10 years you wont be able to find Dr. King amongst the jumble of diluted, everybody-is-wonderful rhetoric.
What Should Have Been
The black population, it seemed to me, gave away Martin Luther King Day to everybody else in the name of diversity. They should have discussed the history of black people in the United States, what they went through, their persecution, with historical verification. They should have talked about the condition of society today, what needs to be done to fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King. Otherwise, what was the point?
Her Credentials
I am a lifelong liberal.
I believe in the historical tenets of liberalism.
Yesterday afternoons program was not an example of the liberalism I was raised with. It was historical revisionism. The diverse program was a rewrite, an embarrassing distortion of what Dr. King actually taught us.
From every aspect, Sunday afternoon was a disappointment. The crowd at the Senior Center was small and mixed. Where was everybody? The first speaker set the tone, saying that Martin Luther King represented diversity. I was a young woman when Martin Luther King was alive. He was not for diversity. He was for the black population of the United Sates. He was not about everybody being the same as everybody else.
Dr. Kings Objectives
He was trying to pull his people up, to win rights for them, to make them a full and equal part of American society. He wanted to win respect for his people, and he wanted them to have self-respect. He wanted to get them out from under the yoke of oppression and the victimhood of their slavery. The black population was brought to the United States, before it was the United States, against their will, torn from their families, from their culture, from their language. When they came to the United States, they were separated from their families. They were raped and used by their white landowners. When the Emancipation Proclamation finally was given to free them, they didnt become free. They were still oppressed and murdered.
Black Cultural Heritage
How many young African Americans know the important song Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday? They have to know their heritage. They have to know about their people who died only because they were black. You have to represent those black people who suffered, who had their families torn apart.
How Yesterday Was Different
You are here now, and where the hell are they? The black population wasnt even at the Senior Center. The room should have been filled with African Americans so that white people couldnt get in, except at the edges of the room. Between one-third and one-half of the room, in my estimation, was black. It wasnt a healthy representation of black people.
A Tribute to Tepidity?
There was no energy in the room. No fire. If youre going to honor Martin Luther King, then honor him so that it makes you want to be a better person. Fulfill his goals, his dreams. He climbed the mountain, but hes not going to climb it for you. You have to climb your own mountain.
Straightening Out Organizers
The Dept. of Parks and Recreation should not put on King Day. The African American population of Culver City should organize this, should pull the people out. They should have had a keynote speaker who energized people. They should have had people from all walks of life, rich or poor, who are black, talking about what it was like to be a black person growing up in the United States, what their struggles were, and how Martin Luther King helped them. What did he mean to them?
Transfusion, Please
There was no energy in the room. It was like the function needed a blood transfusion. It was pathetic. Everyone was walking around very nice, very civilized, very smiley. Their mood was: Isnt that wonderful? Were all the same.
Baloney. That was not what it was about in the 50s and 60s. That is not what I remember.
Diversity, as I said above, wasnt a term we used in the 50s and 60s. Martin Luther King represented the black population. I find it insulting, and I am not even black, that you would dilute he African American experience and culture by mixing it up with diversity. Thats not what its about. Its about African Americans grabbing their history here in the United States, their traditions, their sufferings, but also now their strivings, their achievements. This is separate from Mexican Americans, Guatemalan Americans or Jewish Americans.
Only One Race
As far as I am concerned, the panel at the Senior Center should have been all black. This is only my opinion, and nobody asked me. Black people that is the subject. It is not about everybody. It is about black people in the United States. Dr. King was not representing white people. He was representing the people he was a part of. Passive resistance was very important to him. He took on some beliefs from Ghandi. He used passive resistance. He was non-violent.
So much could have been said yesterday at the Senior Center to inspire people, to make people want to do more, to be better. I couldnt stay around. The opening was so anemic that I said to myself, Forget it. A lot of these young people dont know their history. For example, they all should know the face of the 5-year-old African American child back in the 60s who stood up and said,
Black is boo-tiful.
He was in a classroom. He was being taught to stand up for himself and say, Black is beautiful. But he was only 5, and he had a little speech impediment. So he said, Black is boo-tiful. The child was adorable. Thats what it was about, being proud of the fact you are black, not ashamed of it. That they can do anything anybody else can do. The fact they are black, it isnt just another set of people, but to be proud of the fact they are African American people, and they have a heritage that means something to them, and they are going to fight for themselves.
Postscript
I have one final question:
If the black people give away a celebration of Martin Luther King and King Day to everybody else in the name of diversity, who is going to stand up for the black people in the United States?
It isnt going to be the white people. They are going to be standing up for themselves, protecting what they have. It is not going to be the Muslims, because they are talking about how horrible America is. They want to destroy Americans and make everybody Muslim. At least the militant Muslims do. The quiet, passive, observant Muslims arent negating what the extreme Muslims are saying. The Jews have always taken care of themselves. And then there is the whole Mexican, Central American population in California. They speak for themselves.
So who is going to talk for the black people if the black people give away Martin Luther King Day? This would leave them with a big zero. They would have only themselves to blame.
Ms. Agate is married to Ari L. Noonan, editor of thefrontpageonline.com.
