Today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let's not only pause to think about the man. Let's take a look at the brave people who followed him. The folks who were just sick of sitting in the back of the bus. Those who wanted to live free from discrimination over something they had no control over: the color of their skin.
The radical leftists who fill out left-wing protests today can’t compare to the men and women who stood up for equality in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The men and women who boycotted buses, or went on marches through segregated Southern cities, weren’t students goofing off on campus, nor were they getting a stipend for their protests. They were putting their careers and often their bodies at risk.
The difference between the two groups extends to the motivation that moves the different generations to protest.
You’ll remember the Montgomery Bus Boycott of the ‘50s, started when one woman, Rosa Parks, decided she just wasn’t going to budge. The groups coordinating the boycott had to have a common place to meet before it began. They chose a church as a meeting spot, one pastored by a young man new to the area. That church was Dexter Avenue Baptist, and their 26-year-old pastor was Martin Luther King Jr. Another church, Holt Street Baptist, became the site of mass meetings where an estimated 5,000 people met (the overflow spilled into the basement and parking lot) and heard Rev. King say:
I want to say that we are not here advocating violence. We have never done that. I want it to be known throughout Montgomery and throughout this nation that we are Christian people. We believe in the Christian religion. We believe in the teachings of Jesus. The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest. That's all.
That’s the difference between the protestors of the Civil Rights movement, and the odd conglomeration of protestors that can be seen at any protest the left hosts today. Yesterday’s marchers had faith in God, and in the promise of their leaders: that one day, America’s promise of equality would come true.
Today’s blue-haired, septum-pierced, shrieking protestor can’t begin to comprehend the eloquence of the pastors who spoke the non-violent form of protest into being. Instead, these new protestors squaring off against ICE base their actions on a seeming hatred of what America is. They are following the false gods of Marxism and communism, dressed up as socialism by some on the left.
Because of the rise of the nones, and the sharp decline in church attendance, young protestors can’t understand the Biblical underpinning of the words Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in 1955 during the first meeting at Holt Street:
And we are not wrong. We are not wrong in what we are doing. If we are wrong, then the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. If we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong. If we are wrong, Jesus of Nazareth was merely a utopian dreamer that never came down to earth. If we are wrong, justice is a lie. Love has no meaning. And we are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Today’s average leftist loon doesn't realize that last phrase comes from the prophet Amos, which anyone at Holt Street Baptist could have told them. The Antifa members and AWFLS cannot manage the soaring rhetoric of Rev. King. The anti-ICE contingent’s greatest eloquence consists of repetitive uses of the F-word. All too often, words fail them, leaving these impotent protestors to shriek.
No matter what the Democratic Party leaders may say, these mobs are not the inheritors of the legacy of the Civil Rights marchers.
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