Happy Birthday Dr. King -- Thank You For All You Have Done

Dear Dr. King!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

I realize it'll probably be a while till you see this, but I wanted to take a few moments to record some of my thoughts on how much you've meant to me, and how far we've come since you've been gone.

Although today's your birthday, most of America will not actually recognize or honor you until tomorrow.  Well, I'm not sure about the honoring part, but a lot of people will have a day off.  How many will truly recognize they have you to thank for this?  Who knows!

Real men wore hats, cool cats wore fedoras!

This may seem a bit odd, but really you're in good company.  They celebrate the birthdays of Jesus and Presidents Washington and Lincoln on days other than the actual dates too.  They give them about the same recognition and honor.  A great time for picnics, parties, parades and car sales.

Speaking of your birthday, you don't even want me to begin to tell you about how much resistance there was to designating it a federal holiday.  It's peculiar how we celebrate with a holiday, Christopher Columbus who was neither American nor president.  Come to think of it, actually quite strange. Other than yourself and Jesus, he's the only man who was never president, but has been honored with a national holiday.

Kind of ironic really.  In some ways, Christopher Columbus could be thought of as one of the founding fathers of American slavery of black people.  Where as, you're most definitely one of the founding fathers of our modern day freedom and liberation.

By the time you read this, I guess you'll already know, they killed Bobby Kennedy too.

Dr. King, a lot has happened in America since you last walked the Earth.  We've gained all sorts of freedoms, made all kinds of progress, even to the point of having a black president.

Remember that dream you had? Could you believe I went to school and sat next to white girls and white boys.  Got invited to their homes for dinner, and even went on dates with some of the white girls and lived to tell about it.

Even Martin Luther King found time for fun on occasion.

FREEDOMS FATE IN QUESTION

Looking back over the years, we really have come a long way, but today I'm a bit worried.  More worried than I've ever been my entire life.  While we've marched ahead, made great strides, I fear we may have started to slowly slip backwards and nobody's paying attention.

There's this thing called the Patriot Act.  Oh Dr. King, I can't even begin to describe how horrific it is once you dig into the details.  If it were around in your day, long before your great March On Washington, you probably would have been locked away and never seen or heard from again under the guise of "national security."

Oh, then there's the National Defense Authorization Act.  To discuss the devious details of this devilish law would take a whole book.

For many in government and to the powers that be, you were considered a grave threat, but I guess you already know this.  There's been many more incremental threats and scaling back of our freedoms, but most of us seemed unconcerned or too busy living our lives to pay attention.

I hope some of us will wake up before it's too late.  I mean, I know it's good to dream and all, but what good is a dream without taking action towards fulfilling it?  So much of what you fought for, so much of what you believed in, so much of the very essence of the spirit of what you stood for is at risk today in America.

You probably have a ton of others letters to read, so I'll wrap this up now.  There's much more I'd like to share with you, but I suppose that will have to wait.  Perhaps if it's OK I'll write you again sometime.

Thanks for all that you have done, thank you for fighting for our freedoms, thank you for inspiring a generation, thank you for paying the ultimate sacrifice.


Tearfully yours, with love,

A.F. James MacArthur


P.S. We shall overcome!

P.P.S. Response not necessary.