Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Quote of the Day
Martin Luther King from the Birmingham jail:
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I wish the "centrists" Liebermanites and appeasing Democrats would read this. Note the difference between a negative peace and a positive peace. Democrats have too often sought the absence of tension based on compromise rather than the presence of peace based on justice. The rethugicans have used this appeasement to max advantage since Nixon.

It's time for a change.
1 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said...
This is a very powerful quote. I'm with ya on the sentiment too.