On the Martin Luther King Holiday

On the occasion of the Martin Luther King holiday, I thought it appropriate to pass along this interview by Francesca Block at The Free Times of Clarence Jones, Dr. King’s key speechwriter and confidante. If you’re disinclined to read the whole interview Mr. Jones’s message is:

1. Dr. King’s messages of “radical nonviolence” and cultivating allies across ethnic lines have been forgotten.
2. Scholars, black or white, who claim that America has not made progress on race are lying.
3. We should not be “colorblind” but equality should not be conditional on race.
4. America is not irredeemably racist.
5. School curricula that make marginalization of black, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian American peoples central are a step in the wrong direction.

He concludes:

“Commit yourself irredeemably to the pursuit of personal excellence,” he says emphatically. “Be the very best that you can be. If you do that. . . our color becomes more relevant, because we demonstrate ‘black is beautiful’ not as some slogan, but black is beautiful because of its commitment to personal excellence, which has no color.”

You will note that is completely consistent with what I have been saying around here and is also consistent with what figures like Dr. King and Booker T. Washington have said.