Friday, October 14, 2011
[1644 - William Penn, reformer, Pennsylvania founder, born in London]
[1890 - Dwight David Eisenhower, 5-star general: Supreme Commander Allied Forces World War II; 34th U.S. President, born in Denison, Texas]
[1893 - Lillian Gish (de Guiche), actress, born in Springfield, Ohio]
[1894 - e e cummings (Edward Estlin Cummings), poet, playwright, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts]
[1910 - John Robert Wooden, Basketball Hall of Famer both as a player and coach, born in Hall, Indiana]
[1924 - Robert L. Webber, actor, born in Santa Ana, California]
[1947 - Captain Chuck Yeager, USAF, breaks the sound barrier in X-1]
[1964 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize]
The phrase "class warfare" has begun to appear more frequently in our current discourse. This should come as no surprise. The growing gap between the haves and have-nots in our society has been brilliantly illuminated by the recent fiscal and financial crisis, and the subsequent bailout of the wealthy and privileged. While you and I face foreclosure, Wall Street wallows in record profits and obscene bonuses.
Today, on the anniversary of the awarding of a Nobel peace prize to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we might consider how he would view these developments. Given that the prize was awarded to Dr. King for his championing of the cause of nonviolent solutions to social inequality, any phrase that ended in warfare would likely have made him frown. On the other hand, in his famous "I have a dream" speech he made a most eloquent case for equality of economic opportunity for all races. Following the election of President Obama we heard a lot of nonsense about a post-racial society. As long as the unemployment rate in the black inner-city ghetto continues at twice that to be found elsewhere, we still have a long way to go. One supposes that Dr. King would see in the widening disparity between a privileged economic elite, and the rest of us, a very real threat. While counseling nonviolence, he would likely be fighting to stem the drift of our democracy into an oligarchy ruled by the wealthy and privileged at the expense of the people. One hopes that class warfare will not literally come to pass in the nation.
William's Whimsical Words:
My bet is that the Reverend Doctor King would be in Zuccotti Park with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, reminding them to stay cool but stay committed.
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