Judith Weiss has put together an inspiring collection of tributes to Dr. Martin Luther King over at Kesher Talk. And she reminds us that today also happens to be the yahrzeit of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched with King at Selma and who was in the forefront of both the civil rights and anti-war movements of the sixties. He also contributed enormously to the body of American Jewish scholarship and theology.
While Dr. King's importance to the Black community can't possibly be overstated, it's also important to remember and honor his vast contribution to American society as a whole. This excerpt that Judith quotes from Charles Krauthammer's column (on the Trent Lott fiasco) says it best.Martin Luther King succeeded in taking a liberation movement that could easily have turned irredeemably divisive and deeply anti-American--note the bitter endemic conflicts engendered by other liberation movements around the world--and dedicated it instead to a reaffirmation of American principles. The point is not just what King and his followers did for African-Americans, but what they did--by validating America's original promise of freedom and legal equality--for the rest of America.
On another note . . . Lynn Sislo brings her musical slant (naturally!) to the meaning of the day.
