George Washington gave us our independence. Abraham Lincoln cemented our unity. Equally significant, Dr. Martin Luther King glorified America’s spirit! As our greatest spiritual leader, Dr. Martin Luther King more than deserves a national day of permanent recognition! Edwin Cooney  

Part of me doesn’t think that Martin Luther King Day is a real holiday. It has always seemed like sort of a consultation prize given to African Americans in lieu of treating them as well as White People are treated.

The Reverand King was a powerful and consistent advocate for African American rights but was not celebrated in the White community for that. He was beaten and jailed for it. To quote Representative Ayanna Pressley, “Dr. King wasn’t murdered because he was a preacher, pacifist with a dream, that is revisionist history…He didn’t become an American hero until after he was dead and no longer a threat to White supremacy.”

The animosity against King wasn’t just in the South, it was also at the Federal Leval; the FBI wiretapped King and harassed him. This was not J. Eager Hoover going rogue; the wiretapping was done with the knowledge and permission of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The FBI bugged King’s hotel rooms, hoping to record King’s extramarital activities. They wanted to discredit him. The FBI spread misinformation throughout the government as well as to journalists and church leaders, saying that King was a communist and a moral degenerate.

Reading all the accolades for King over the last couple of days, all this seems shocking. Still, the most shocking thing I’ve recently read about Martin Luther King Jr. is that he and his wife, Coretta Scott King, paid the hospital bills for Julia Robert’s birth. The backstory is charming and worth Googling.

What I like about the story is that it flatters everybody involved. That King was a nice guy as well as a powerful leader is worth remembering.