Well, Happy Birthday

WELL, happy birthday, Dr. King.

"We oppose the use of quotas. We want a color-blind society. A society, that in the words of Dr. King, judges people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," proclaimed Ronald Reagan, blatantly misrepresenting Dr. King's words and intentions. Turning Dr. King into Dr. Pawn. Following the right-wing trend. Turning civil rights into civil wrongs. Edwin Meese blowing out the candles by spitting on the cake.

Happy birthday.

"No amount of gold could provide an adequate compensation for the explotation and humiliation of the Negro in America down through the centuries. Yet a price can be placed on unpaid wages," said Dr. King. The check is in the mail. The check will bounce anyway. Reagan has engineered an apartheid recovery, an economic upswing with "whites only" posted on the opening doors of opportunity.

Black unemployment is double that of whites.

Black family median income is half that of whites.

Almost half of Black families live in poverty.

"Love has overcome hate," said George Bush at the recent King salute.

"I know and we all know unless we're blind that we have not reached the promised land," said Cardinal Bernard Law '53, archbishop of Boston, at the King salute.

Well, happy birthday.

We are opposed to the use of quotas, says Reagan. In the words of Dr. King, says Reagan.

Almost half of Black families live in poverty.

Well, happy birthday, Dr. King.

"In our society it is murder, psychologically, to deprive a man of a job or an income," said Dr. King. There is a lot of killing going on in the job market. Sixteen percent of Blacks don't have jobs. All dead. We are opposed to the use of quotas says Reagan. Words of Dr. King says Reagan. Half of Black families live in poverty. It is murder, says Dr. King. Capital punishment. Murder by supply-side. Reagan lengthening the lines of the living dead, the unemployed, with Black zombies. In our society it is murder.

Well.

Happy Birthday.

It's not a birthday party, just a Republican party. "Freedom is like life. It cannot be had in installments. Freedom is indivisible--we have it all or we are not free," said Dr. King. There's no victory without something won. It doesn't matter if you're allowed into the restaurant if you can't pay for the meal. You can't dream if you can't go to sleep, a victim of supply-side insomnia.

Well.

"America is much, much sicker...than I realized when I first began working in 1955," said Dr. King. There are polyps of racism in the soul of America as surely as there are polyps of cancer in the colon of the president. It is not Dr. King's birthday we should observe, but his assassination. It's not how far we've progressed that should be measured but how far back we've been set. Over one-half of Blacks think Reagan is a racist. We want a color-blind society, says Reagan. Color-blind, maybe. But like any creature of the silver screen, Reagan can still see black and white.

Too often the only things learned at Harvard are how to make a buck, spend a buck and pass the buck. Inequality was a problem of the sixties. We have other problems now, like what Saab to buy. Or how not to get herpes. Things haven't progressed that much. We can't be fooled by holiday ceremony speeches into believing that the dream has been actualized. Half of Black families live in poverty. Reagan says his administration has helped Blacks. Under Reagan white unemployment fell, Black unemployment rose. Under Reagan white poverty fell, Black poverty rose. The Reagan recovery has been built on the backs of Black workers in the same way Colonial America was built on the backs of Black slaves. Reagan says his administration has helped Blacks.

"Something is wrong with capitalism as it now stands in the United States. We are not interested in being integrated into this value structure," said Dr. King. Reagan opposed the holiday until it was to his political gain. Profits over prophets. Congress is choosing to delegate away its power to save social programs from spending cuts. Law over justice. This administration has challenged the 1965 Voting Rights Act, threatened affirmative action hirings, extended helping hands to schools that discriminate, fought a long and vicious war against Black social and economic freedoms. This administration celebrates Dr. King even as they dismantle his works.

"Our destiny is bound up with the destiny of America," said Dr. King. Almost half of Black families are in poverty. Over half of Blacks think Reagan is a racist. In the words of Dr. King, says Reagan. Love has overcome hate, says George Bush. We have not reached the promised land, says the archbishop of Boston.

Well.

Happy birthday.

Dr. King.

"We are not interested in being integrated into this value structure."