In Memoriam: Martin Luther King

I was up just before 4 today. The first tweet I saw was from John Boehner pointing to a pro forma statement he issued to commemorate Martin Luther King Day, for him another excuse for the House not being in session or working towards the ideals Martin Luther King is revered for. "Today," wrote Boehner's ghostwriter, "we unite in prayer and service to honor the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, and reaffirm our commitment to the American Dream he sought to perfect. For all his great works and honors, Rev. King said he wished to be remembered simply as someone who 'tried to give his life serving others.' Service was Rev. King’s mission, and his message: he urged us to honor and serve one another, and to let the search for common ground lead us closer to liberty and justice for all. Anyone can serve, he said, 'you only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.' This lesson of humility endures, as does our profound respect for Rev. King's life and legacy. On behalf of the whole House, I encourage all Americans to pause and pay tribute to this true servant leader."

Personally, I was more impressed by this tweet from Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN):


And no one put it better than progressive congressional candidate Brianne Murphy, running for the Democratic nomination to take on teabagger Ann Marie Buerkle in a Syracuse-based upstate New York district. Unlike Boehner, she understands what the battle for equality is all about and how tragically unfulfilled Dr. King's dream still is, thanks in great part to craven right-wing politicians like Boehner.

Over the last 44 years since the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., incredible strides have been made toward attaining his vision of an equal and just society. Perhaps the most apparent evidence of racial equality is the election of the first African-American president. While undoubtedly Barack Obama’s election serves as real progress that could only be dreamed of during King’s lifetime, we must not rely on one such accomplishment at the expense of continued progress toward equality. Although we have eradicated many of the race-based barriers to opportunity, barriers to access based on socioeconomic status-- which disproportionately impact minority families-- still exist. With all that remains to be done, the success of the few cannot justify ignoring the struggle of the many.

King envisioned "a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few." Sadly, this has become a dream deferred. Reaching certain milestones in racial equality has let our leaders off the hook and shifted the national dialogue away from the importance of equality of opportunity and outcome to debating the very relevance of equality. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last week said that a national dialogue around income equality is based on a politics of "envy," crying “class warfare” in defense of Wall Street, at the expense of Main Street. Those comments underscore the erosion of "equality" as a national priority.

"Harder for Americans to rise from lower rungs," published Jan. 4 in the New York Times, reported that not only have income inequities become more pronounced over the last four decades within the United States, achieving the American dream of upward mobility has become increasing difficult and unlikely. Roughly 62 percent of Americans raised in the top-fifth of incomes stay in the top two-fifths, and 65 percent born in the bottom fifth remain in the bottom two-fifths.

In order to address the issue of poverty, we must put equality back on the national agenda. We need leaders at every level who understand that for a family choosing between heat and groceries, it is neither envy that motivates, nor a pervasive lack of work ethic that stymies. We need leaders and legislators who understand that the primary consequence of poverty is not simply the hardship imposed by a lack of material possessions; rather, it is the cyclical nature of poverty and its pervasive influence on one’s future of having grown up without equality of opportunity. They must understand the socioeconomic barriers of access to achieving the American dream, and commit to eradicating them.

This past autumn we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Syracuse University football star Ernie Davis becoming the first African-American to win the coveted Heisman Trophy. Davis’ achievement set into motion a series of events that would fundamentally change higher education in America, providing access to many who would not have had such an opportunity. As a graduate of Fowler High School and someone who cares deeply about equality of opportunity, I believe King’s message means as much today as it did 44 years ago.

Today, I will honor King’s legacy by serving my community alongside Helen Hudson, the first African-American woman to serve as councilor-at-large on the Syracuse Common Council. As Central New Yorkers, I urge each of us to take a moment to remember our deep tradition and leadership in the area of civil rights. Let us hear and answer the call serve our communities; let us work to revitalize the American dream.

As we recommit ourselves to achieving King’s dream of racial, social and economic equality for all Americans, I am optimistic that we will make unimaginable progress toward achieving that goal over the next four decades. In the words of King, “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up."

Electing dedicated progressive fighters like Murphy will go a long way towards making King's dream a reality. Mushy centrists like Dan Maddei, her primary opponent, are no answer to racists and elitists like Buerkle. And the answers won't come from the top-- not anytime soon, at least. As Sahil Kapur wrote this morning at TPM:

One crystallizing theme of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is his pledge to stem the tide of income inequality. But although hardly any would disagree that he'd be better on the issue than the Republican candidates, experts say it'll take quite a bit more action than he's suggested to really reverse the trend. Some of them even caution that part of the phenomenon is beyond the realm of public policy.

To scale back the problem, Obama wants to raise taxes on high earners to Clinton-era levels, uphold the estate tax, implement health care reform to bolster low-income uninsured people, and implement Wall Street reform so as to limit excessive risk-taking in the financial sector.

But it's far from clear whether these policies, even if fully implemented, will bring about a reversal of the three-decade trend. For instance, even though low- and middle-income Americans improved their standing during the Clinton administration, the gap between the rich and poor continued to grow.

Better than Romney? Of course. Good enough? Nope, not by a longshot.

Romney's press release, like Boehner's was an exercise in hypocrisy:

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an occasion to reflect on the legacy of an outstanding American. Dr. King not only believed in the fundamental truth that we are all made in God's image, he fought for that truth in a campaign that brought our country closer to fulfilling its historic promise of liberty and justice for all. The United States has made enormous strides toward racial equality in the decades since Dr. King's death, but we must never rest until all people are judged, in his immortal words, not "by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Why do I call it hypocrisy? Romney spent part of today-- Martin Luther King Day-- campaigning with anti-immigrant radical Kris Kobach, the racist Kansas Secretary of State who wrote the Arizona anti-Latino legislation.

TEN OTHER THINGS MARTIN LUTHER KING SAID