Last Call For An MLK Day Play In One Act

America’s civil rights journey in two sentences:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Letter From a Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

“It isn’t hard to find injustice around us, but we must not let injustice smear the good deeds that do occur everyday.”

–Sen. Rand Paul, Break Down The Wall That Separates Us From The ‘Other America’, January 19, 2015

Sage nodding from CHORUS.

Exeunt, FIN.

Because of course, we have to focus on the justice that's being done on a daily basis, not the icky injustices that still exist 52 years later in Post-Racial Obama's America.

But as bad as Rand Paul is, the winner today for All-Time MLK False Equivalence Asshole Bingo goes to convicted felon Dinesh D'Souza!

AN INTERESTING PARALLEL: MLK was targeted by J. Edgar Hoover, an unsavory character; I was targeted by the equally unsavory B. Hussein Obama
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) January 19, 2015

Letters From A Minimum Security Country Club Prison.

Whatever Would Give You That Idea?

Gotta hand it to Maryland's pro-Confederacy crew, knowing that Dr. King's birthday is on the 15th of January means the third weekend in January is always a good time to celebrate General Robert E. Lee's birthday too, because both sides.

Dozens of demonstrators wearing Confederate uniforms marched Saturday morning in Baltimore to honor Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, two days before the holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. 

About 50 protesters stood silently across the street from the pro-Confederate rally, and some of them carried signs urging the Civil War enthusiasts to change the date of their annual demonstration, reported The Baltimore Sun. 

Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy said they chose the date to honor the Confederate generals at their birthdays – which are Jan. 19 and 21. 

King’s birthday was Jan. 15, and the federal holiday is held on the third Monday of each January. 

The pro-Confederate demonstration has been held on the third weekend of January for years, although members are not sure how the long the event has been held. 

Some group members said they had attended ceremonies in the 1950s at the Lee-Jackson monument, near the Baltimore Museum of Art. 

The event has drawn more attention in recent years, and local Quakers have helped organize silent protests for the past three years asking them to choose another weekend to honor the Confederate generals.

"Oh it's Dr. King's weekend?  Well, we were here first, you know.  Perhaps you should find another time to celebrate your little holiday or whatever while we celebrate our 150 years of Southern culture."

Pretty masterful job or trolling, frankly.  

History Is Censored By The Winners

The producers of the movie Selma arranged for free tickets for hundreds of thousands junior high school kids to go see it and learn about the civil rights struggle of the 1960's, a struggle that continues today.  But in Alabama, where the real-live events depicted in the movie took place, one high school history club has been barred from seeing the movie because of "language and violence concerns".

DeKalb County school superintendent Hugh Taylor cancelled the outing by students at the predominately minority school, saying he was concerned about obscene language and “racial profanity” in the Oscar-nominated film.

An African-American parent of one senior in the history club who had planned on seeing the film questioned the superintendent’s motives.

“It raises my curiosity as to whether something that they are not wanting exposed or the children not to know about.” said Reverend James Stanton. “I don’t believe it is just about the profanity.”

Stanton, who was 20 in 1965, explained that he lived through the era and was warned to stay away out of safety concerns.

“They did not want me to come down and visit because of the violence and the racial problems that they were having at the time.” said Stanton.

According to Taylor, he is concerned about what would happen if a child was offended by the film and wanted to leave the theater, saying he didn’t think teachers should have to be put in the position of playing parent.

Ahh, the ol' in loco parentis argument. Isn't that what permission slips are for?  If Taylor is right, why have after school activities and clubs at all in public school?

Oh, and Taylor's own four kids?  They go to private school.  Go figure.

Here are a bunch of kids who like school and learning, in a predominately minority school.  They like it so much they joined the school's history club to learn more about America's history.  Then you tell them "No, sorry, when it's the history of your people in the state that you lived in, history that your grandparents lived through, well, we think you might be offended by it, so you can't go."

Amazing.  You mean that black kids might learn that there's still racism in Alabama, and in fact it's been part of a long history?

We can't have schools being involved in teaching that.  They need to learn less controversial stuff like the Earth is only 6,000 years old and about intelligent design, right?  Or better yet, we need to let churches teach that in Alabama.

Right?

StupidiNews!

• Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah came under attack by Houthi rebels in the capital of Sanaa less than one week after the kidnapping of the Yemeni President's chief of staff.
• The share of the world's wealth in the hands of the richest 1% is expected to top 50% by sometime next year, according to Oxfam International.
• Ukraine's military has retaken Donetsk airport from Russian-backed separatists in heavy fighting over the weekend.
• The European Central Bank may announce a half billion-euro plus quantitative easing package as soon as this week to combat eurozone deflation.
• Analysis from water runoff during a music festival in Taiwan in 2011 showed that the 600,000 concertgoers did indeed have a major short-term environmental impact on local ecology.